


Fool Loves Sugar

by Athena_Hono_the_gray_ace



Category: ASTRO (Band), GOT7, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Aromantic Character, Aromantic spectrum, Asexual Character, Asexuality Spectrum, Background Poly, Bisexual Character, Bisexuality, Character Study, Demisexual Character, Demisexuality, Depression, Developing Relationship, Families of Choice, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Character, Past Traumatic Relationships, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory Negotiations, Pre-Poly, References to Depression, Relationship Study, Sexuality Study, Split-Attraction-Model, Tags May Change, Trauma, each chapter will have warnings, pansexuality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-14 17:03:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20195689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athena_Hono_the_gray_ace/pseuds/Athena_Hono_the_gray_ace
Summary: "You’ve shown me I have reasons I should love myself. I’m learning how to love myself, I’ll answer with my breath, my path. The me of yesterday, the me of today, the me of tomorrow. I’m learning how to love myself, with no exceptions, it’s all me" -Answer: Love MyselfJeongguk was just a college student who was an online freelancer on the side. He really was. Nothing special, he was just drifting through life. He had his friends, who he considered family, and that was all he needed. He didn't need anyone. He couldn't need anyone. He was just fine, don't worry about him.College sucked. Fast food sucked harder. Yoongi put up with it to achieve his dreams of being a big music producer and rapper. He had his chosen family cause fuck his actual family. Relationships weren't really his thing, he had his reasons okay? He'd rather watch his friends dance around each other and call them stupid.





	1. Intro Notes

Alright, so some notes for this story!

This started out as a stupid prompt I thought of at work. Ot6 work at mcdonalds and the final member comes in and sees one member and goes “oh shit hes hot” and is a panicked gay. Anyway, this was supposed to be a cracky oneshot and then it blew up. Now I’ve expanded it so much and it’s kinda my baby. This fic will tackle difficult subjects such as trauma, mental health, suicidal thoughts, mention attempted suicide, high mentions of previous abusive relationships, discussions of poly relationships, discussion of both aromantic and asexual spectrum characters whether major or minor characters, discussions of relationships with aro/ace spectrum characters, as well as absent family members and abandonment issues. 

There will be fluff and humor don’t worry! I just wanted to lay out that there will be some very tough stuff in this fic. A good amount of these I personally experienced and updates for this fic may be hard due to my personal issues. There are 3 main characters I deeply projected on and I’ll likely mention it when their stories are told. 

These characters are based on various kpop idols, real people, and such but I will state that due to their experiences in this, they are not the same person. The core personality is similar (or as similar as I could get) but they are still very different people at the same time. Do I believe any of these idols are in anyway this way? No. This is a work of fiction made out of admiration for BTS and other idols. 

Also some details to add, there will be lyrics throughout the fic! These lyrics do have some importance to the characters! Please don’t get pissy I’m putting song lyrics in, they’re meaningful and I may have spent WAY more time than I should have detailing out music in this fic.

More to note! I do work at McDonald’s as a Swing Manager. So yes I DO have an idea of how working at fast food is and many weird situations that’ll happen, have likely happened to me at work and I plan on quoting some of my coworkers cause that’s iconic. So to save you ALL some time in case no explanations pop up for what different positions while the characters are working, I’ll give some terminology my job uses. Fast food places differ and all that. 

_ Rush: _ This is when the store is extremely busy. There are mini rushes in between the main rushes, breakfast/lunch/dinner. Rushes may also feel like one depending on the staffing. 

_ Peak/Peak Hour _: This is the busiest times at specific dayparts. They differ from store to store. For example; peak hour in the dinner day part for my store is 5-7 pm. However we can still get really busy outside of those hours.

_ Front: _ Refers to any order or person ordering at the front counter and lobby. It can also refer to the front of the house, or the area up front that is not the kitchen, the service area.

_ Drive: _ Refers to orders in drive through.

_ Backbooth: _ This is the first window where you usually pay, if the store has two windows. The person back here takes orders on one of the speakers and cashes people out as well as a few other duties such as brewing tea, prepping kid’s meal boxes, lining trays and doing dishes if it’s late enough.

_ Second Lane: _ This person is up in the front, they take orders on the other speaker, if it is a two-lane drive thru, but they don’t cash anyone out. They are also in charge of making various drinks such as coffee items as well as ice creams. If they can’t make it then someone else will cause teamwork makes the dreamwork.

_ Fries: _ This person is in charge of boxing all the fries as well as making sure all fries are fresh and there’s enough and well in a rush that can get crazy. There isn’t always someone on this position.

_ Presenting: _ This is the person who’s handing you your order at the second window. They have to double check the food and hand it out. They work closely with the second lane person.

_ Running: _ This position can have one or two people. They are the ones bagging all the orders and making sure they are correct. Usually there are two people, one for front and one for drive.

_ Grill: _ The kitchen area. Back of the house. Where food is made and assembled.

_ Meats: _ This is the person who cooks all the meat served. They have to make sure the food is safe to eat and quality is good. They have to keep up with fresh quarters (since those are put down as soon as their ordered where I am) and all the food in the grill area to make sure there isn’t timed food or there is none. 

_ Line: _ This has two positions. Dropping all the buns and prepping them for the meat is the first position, initiating. The second one is finishing the sandwiches and the nuggets and wrapping it all up to be bagged, terminating. There may also be a third person who is assembling the sandwiches, before the terminator finishes them, this person is often training or its a big order or a rush. Often in a rush these positions will blur. With a talented person back there it can be done with one person as well as if it’s very slow or close to closing or just late in general. 

_ Timed: _ This can refer to food that has been out too long, making the quality drop. Yes it’s safe to eat but that doesn’t mean we want to serve it, the quality isn’t as good. Timed can also refer to waiting on something to finish cooking, requiring the runner to have the car in drive thru pulled to keep the line moving, example: fries weren’t put down fast enough or something not commonly served that time of day needs to be cooked. 

_ Running the Floor: _ This is the person who is in charge of the shift and making sure breaks are handed out and deals with the paperwork and labor issues after the next manager running the floor takes over or the store closes. Put simply, the shift manager. This person is ALWAYS a certified manager.

_ Numbers: _ Refers to a crew member needing a manager’s code to authorize something. Example: a high ranking bill that could be fake, like a $100 bill. Though I guess that would be Korean currency in here and I’m not sure if they do that. Could also refer to employee meals or other things.

_ Daysheet: _ This is the sheet that lists all employees and their shifts. Technically only managers are allowed to look at it but most crew will still look too. It’s not a huge deal.

_ Waste sheet _: This is where the shift manager writes down all the waste for their shift and enters it into the system.

_ Hierarchy: _This is based on how it works at the stores in my area, some other locations may differ. Certification is going through classes for managers to prove they are capable of food safety, management of employees, and dealing with customers, etc. There are 2 for hourly managers and 4-5 for salary managers depending on their level.

_ Crew: _ These are regular employees. This is where you start. The longer and more experienced you are gives you seniority over newer members, which may leave you in charge for a short time if a manager is unavailable due to various reasons such as a customer complaint, a store phone call, another issue, etc. 

_ Maintenance: _ They usually come in overnight and make sure everything is running and clean the machines and such. Some stores may also have them handle the truck delivery. My store does. 

_ Floor Supervisor: _ This is the lowest ranked manager. They are typically in charge of handling training new employees and delegating. They cannot run the floor and are not usually offered the chance to be fully certified unless they wish to be promoted. They don’t have the same responsibilities as anyone higher. They are usually required to take ServSafe (a food safety course) but not always. They are also usually minors (17) who got promoted but can’t be a Swing yet or are an in-training Swing. An in-training Swing who is still a Floor Sup can run the floor, especially if they are training for it.

_ Shift Manager: _ There aren’t many at my store but shift managers can have a set schedule and while they are allowed to count tills and run the floor, it’s usually done by a higher ranked manager. They delegate and can be certified.

_ Swing Manager: _ Swings HAVE to have open availability. They can set a schedule but they may be asked to come in on days off more than other employees, especially if they need to run a shift for another manager. They are the highest ranking hourly paid manager. They count tills, deal with paperwork and customers and can be certified. 

_ Salary: _ Salary people are managers who are on a salary pay. They will almost ALWAYS be running the floor. There are 3 ranks of them at my store before it goes to district level. The lowest rank is Second Assistant Manager. They have different departments they work in and what they focus on differs. To be honest I don’t know the full extent of what each does. I know there’s people management (hiring/employees and customers), restaurant management, and kitchen. That’s my extent of knowledge towards it as I’m still learning about the higher ups. The next ranking is First Assistant Manager and this person’s MAIN job is scheduling ALL the employees and keeping to their availability. (It’s a hard job but honestly, my First SUCKS at it) they also may be in charge of ordering truck. GM is the General Manager and they are the one totally in charge of the store and report directly to district. How the store runs is what they’ve dictacted. They can have a set schedule and such. I’ll be honest, I know little of GM duties since I’m not privy to that information yet, also my GM lowkey intimidates me. So I did my research and shit.

  
  
  


I think I got the majority of them. If there’s anymore, it'll be added here or before the chapter. 

I will also note that in the store portrayed in the story, the GM and First both do scheduling for a reason that will later be revealed. Another note is that there are generally two salaries scheduled the same shift in this story. This normally doesn’t happen. In fact it only happens for a couple hours a day before the GM leaves and the floor is handed over. There is one day where we have both of our Seconds on the floor but not all stores have two. The store in the story does and both work in the daytime (morning and midshift). The GM and First will usually work nights (for plot purposes), though my GM only works mornings, but there will be the occasion where the GM and First work earlier shifts. Keep in mind this isn't how my store runs and I can’t attest to others but I can assume the GM usually doesn’t work nights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE WE GO


	2. Shatter Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk goes to McDonald's at 10pm, breaks his healthy streak, and meets a cute employee. 
> 
> He also hates his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay fuckers let's go. This fic is gonna be fun! Here comes the crack-
> 
> Warnings: None this chapter other than stupidity

* * *

Ten p.m. and fucking McDonald's sounded good. And Jeongguk KNEW that was a bad idea. He'd been eating healthy (finally) after eating trashy for so long and trusting his high metabolism and crazy high school athleticism to keep him in shape, and then regretting his choices. While he was correct on that fact that his metabolism and athletic tendencies did keep him in shape, he quickly regretted the other parts of his health. Such as a lowered immune system, poor training results, bad muscle recovery times (sucked for weights), and other such things. So he slowly switched his diet over (as to not have drastic negative effects on his body) to a healthier one and ate a lot less trash. Sometimes he'll indulge in some junk food, usually for celebrations, but he never ate a ton anymore. 

Even after leaving high school he continued to workout and keep up his fit shape as well as eat healthy. It made him feel good about himself. So now, with this random ass craving for fast food of all things, he's hating life. And of course he had no fucking self control (and his college friends are useless in convincing him not to cause they don't really get it, they try at least; but they usually aren’t helpful. But whatever, he doesn’t get some of their interests but he still supports them. It’s all valid.) so he stops by the nearest McDonald’s on his way home from college classes (Fuck late night classes), of course he manages to pick the busiest McDonald’s this side of Seoul, which has a long line in the drive thru. So he goes to park his car in the surprisingly empty ass parking lot, and hates himself for REALLY wanting a goddamn Big Mac. Or just Mc-fucking-Donald’s in general.

He went inside after locking the car (it gave a satisfying honk) and was greeted by the employee at the counter with a huge grin. The employee’s eyes turned into crescents due to his huge smile and soft looking cheeks. Nervously Jeongguk smiled back and then turned to the menu. 

* * *

Yoongi was fucked. He was honest to god fucked. The boy that just came in the store was GORGEOUS. And Jimin was a piece of shit who “claimed” that he had to go stock the sauces in the lobby, leaving Yoongi to man front counter.

More like he saw how Yoongi did a double take when the boy came in. The little shit. 

Yoongi could see Jin smirking at him from line, while he was preparing the orders for the like seven customers in drive thru. (It’s amazing how working at the busiest McDonald’s this fucking side of Seoul can have the craziest and most random of rushes. Like at ten-thirty at night). Namjoon wasn’t better from his spot at the bagging station. They even locked eyes with each other and smirked at each other then turned their stupid looking faces to Yoongi.

Those two should honestly just fucking confess already, they already act so fucking in sync. 

Anyway, Yoongi is fucked when the gorgeous kid finally decides to order. 

'Cause holy shit those biceps? What the fuck kind of steroids is this kid on? And those thighs, wow thighs. Oh god those fucking thighs, Yoongi is pretty sure he could die happy with those thighs wrapped around his-

“Excuse me, sir?”

Yoongi snapped to attention at the sound of a hesitant but heavenly sounding voice. The boy was looking at him with a nervous energy about him. 

“How may I help you?” Yoongi said, as politely as he could while praising the god before him in his head. 

The boy scratched his head and gave a tiny smile. “Um yeah, so I’m not gonna lie but it’s been YEARS since I’ve been to a McDonald’s and I was wondering if you could give me any recommendations?”

Yoongi gulped. This boy was adorable what the actual fuck? How can someone be cute and hot at the same time? Fucking shit, what is he? A meme? “Um, yeah I can. What are you in the mood for?” he said with a slight cough. 

The boy laughed. Oh god, his laugh. Yoongi could write songs describing how it sounded to his ears. 

Wow, he was sappy today.

“The thing is, I rarely eat junk food anymore. So I honest to god don’t know what I want,” the boy said with a shrug. 

Yoongi hummed. “Well not gonna lie but I can’t imagine not eating junk food. But I think that-“

“Of course you can’t imagine not eating junk food, hyung! Because that’s literally what you live on in your studio when you’re not here!” Taehyung snarked from the drink machine in the second window. Yoongi shot him a dark look. 

“Nobody asked you brat,” he muttered and turned back to the boy who was smirking at the scene. Oh god - his smirk was off the chart sexy. Fuck Yoongi was screwed (he only wished for literally).

“Well I suppose your opinion is highly reputable if all you eat is junk food.” the boy said, an amused tone in his voice. 

“Hey I don’t ONLY eat junk food!” Yoongi protested. 

“Only because I have enough heart to cook you something substantial,” Jin commented from his station. 

“Jin-hyung has a soft spot for you, hyung,” Hoseok said out of nowhere.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in backbooth?” Namjoon asked, giving Hoseok a _look_.

“I needed water,” Hoseok said with a shrug and raised his cup like it was a glass of wine, and took a long sip. And then nearly choked, eyes widened, and then rushed to click the speaker button on his headset. “Welcome to McDonald’s, how may I help you?” he said into the headset as he rushed back to backbooth. To suffer Yoongi hoped, he deserved it. The shit. Everyone hated backbooth cause they feel cut off from the rest of the crew. Hoseok did especially, the social butterfly. Both Yoongi and Tae were the only ones on night crew who enjoyed it. It was quieter back there. Personally, Yoongi found it helpful whenever his anxiety was particularly bad that day. He wasn’t sure about Tae’s reason. Probably an excuse to be on his phone. Yoongi could relate. 

“Yoongi-hyung is too stubborn to eat properly so Jin-hyung has to have a soft spot for him,” Jimin said as he came back from “stocking lobby”. 

“This is bullying,” Yoongi protested. He hates them all. And one day they’ll regret this treatment.

* * *

Jeongguk was highly amused by this turn of events. The cute employee at the front counter had really caught his attention once the short ash-blonde employee left for the lobby. He had a hard time actually deciding on something other than a Big Mac because of the cute one. Peering at the employee, currently being teased by his coworkers, he read his name tag._ Yoongi, Swing Manager_. Oh, so he was a manager then, Jeongguk realized that was obvious, as he was wearing a dress shirt in comparison to the regular crew with matching shirts. But he was a manager. A very cute, soft looking manager. That Jeongguk would love to have in his bed, and his life. And to hold his soft looking hands and just cuddle him and go on cute cheesy dates and kiss his soft looking lips and his round cheeks and pet his startling blonde hair and-

“Sir? Sir? Are you okay?” The cute- wait sorry, _Yoongi_ was waving a hand in front of his face, looking concerned. Jeongguk flushed. 

“Sorry! I must be more tired than I thought from college today,” Jeongguk said, flashing what he hoped was a convincing smile.

Yoongi frowned at him but didn’t push. “Yah kid get some coffee while you’re here then,” he said instead. 

“Yoongi-yah it’s literally almost 10:40, the kid shouldn’t drink caffeine this late.” the tall broad one in the back making food called. His hair was blonde too, but far brighter than Yoongi’s bleached hair or the soft employee’s ash-blonde hair. Jeongguk was starting to see a pattern. Was there like a dare or something among the employees? 

“Nobody asked you, hyung,” Yoongi said. 

The broad one huffed. “The disrespect here.” 

“Right back at you, Jin.” 

“DISRESPECT!”

Jeongguk laughed. “I’ll get a coffee, iced. Caramel please. Large. I have an all-nighter ahead of me.”

Yoongi grinned victoriously as he rang up the drink. “Told you, hyung," he called back to the broad one ....Jin? Jeongguk isn’t quite sure of his name. 

“Yah! Shut up brat! I’ll fire you!”

“That’s literally the fifth time you’ve said that in the last two hours, we all know you’ll do no such thing, Jin-hyung,” the soft ash-blonde threw out, earning himself a huff and arms thrown in the air from ‘Jin’. 

“Disrespect! Disrespect from all of you! Joonie help me out here.” 

The really tall tan one bagging food grinned, deep dimples showing. “Sorry hyung. But I can’t do anything either.” Woo um, that voice though? Jeongguk was shook. His silver-gray hair was also super fantastic looking and Jeongguk wishes he could pull it off. 

A quiet snort brought Jeongguk’s attentions back to Yoongi. “Anything else I can get you sir?” 

Jeongguk hummed. “I guess I’ll just have McSpicy Shanghai Deluxe meal. Medium. To go. Make the coffee the drink for it please.” 

“That’ll be ninety-six thousand won,” Yoongi said with a grin. 

Jeongguk laughed. “And there goes my healthy streak,” he commented while pulling out the money and handing it over. 

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with indulging once in while,” Yoongi said with a shrug and he counted out the money and handed Jeongguk his receipt. 

“I guess that’s true,” Jeongguk says with a shrug and a small smile. He then awkwardly walks over to a table by the drink machine (which is in front of the counter. Like directly. Who designed this lobby?) to wait for his food. And observes. Not just because Yoongi was cute, mind you but because his psych teacher recommended doing so. Damn, psych was hard sometimes. He still wondered why he took it as an elective.

* * *

“You look smitten, hyung,” Jimin said with a smirk as he made a McFlurry for drive thru. 

“Suck my dick Jimin,” came the annoyed reply. 

Jimin made a face. “Hyung, I love you but no.”

“Watch your mouths, customer in lobby,” Namjoon snapped. 

“Make me.”

“YOONGI STOP BEING A PIECE OF WORK!” Jin exclaimed and threw an empty nugget box at Yoongi, who dodged. 

“Hyung, your aim sucks.”

“Remind me why I haven’t fired you yet.”

“Because you’re too soft.” 

Jin looked like he was gonna say something but thought better of it. 

“Hey guys. Can I have that damn flurry yet?” Taehyung asked, blowing his dirty blonde bangs out of his face. “Or am I interrupting the family bonding time that I’m not involved in.”

“None of you are my family,” Yoongi deadpanned.

“We are literally roommates, hyung,” Namjoon said. 

“And if I didn’t come by constantly, you’d both starve or live purely off employee meals,” Jin added. 

“You’re only over so much because you are literally whipped for Namjoon; that is - when Namjoon isn’t practically living at your place. Are you sure that Hobi and I shouldn’t start looking for another roommate soon?” Yoongi smirked as he got glares. He shrugged. “Also neither of those reasons make you my family. We aren’t blood related.” 

"Family isn't always made by blood," The kid chimed in. 

They all spared a look at him. Yoongi smiled. "You're right."

The kid looked at his feet in embarrassment.

Jin rolled his eyes. "Anyway, nobody asked you Yoongi.” 

“Fuck off, hyung,” Namjoon said in agreement. 

“Jesus Christ, I’m just saying.” 

“Can I have that flurry please?” Tae asked exasperatedly. 

Jimin rushed over. “Sorry, the machine was being a bitch again.” 

“What else is new?” Tae said with a shrug and then turned to hand out the order. 

“You mean like all my friends?” Yoongi asked. 

“Why are you like this tonight Yoongi-hyung?” Jimin asked, he got a shrug in reply. 

“Yoongi, the front counter order is up, stop being a bitch and hand it out,” Jin snapped. 

“How is Jinwoo even handling your mood tonight Jin?” Yoongi asked as he bagged the food the boy had ordered.

“THAT’S A QUESTION I ASK MYSELF EVERY DAY!” Jinwoo called, blowing his bangs out of his face as he took a sip from his drink. “Except I ask that about everyone here.”

“Hey what the hell have I done to you Jinwoo-yah?” Jackson called from the grill area. 

“Existed.” 

Namjoon winced. “Ouch.” 

“You are no help man. No help,” Jackson said. “What kind of best friend are you?”

“Not yours.” Yoongi said distastefully before he turned around, ignoring Jackson’s offended gasp and Jin telling Jackson to make some damn burgers. “Here you go kid,” he said as he placed the bag of food and the coffee Taehyung surprisingly made, doing his job on second lane despite his bitching earlier about flurries - which technically he was supposed to make himself. Yoongi wondered if the kid was taking orders like he was supposed to along with handing out the food and drinks.

The kid was red in the face and looked like he was trying not to die as he came up to get his food.

Yoongi cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly. “You okay kid?”

The kid covered his mouth and inhaled. “Yeah, I’m fine. But you guys are fucking hilarious. Like some sort of dysfunctional family, I swear.” 

“TOLD YOU WE’RE A FAMILY!” Taehyung shouted. 

“LITERALLY NOBODY ASKED YOU!” Jinwoo said.

“SHUT UP!” Myungjun yelled as he returned from the back with a box of various supplies he needed to stock.

Yoongi sighed. “Do your damn jobs people.” 

“Professionalism is a thing Yoongi. Ever heard of it?” Jin snarked.

“Yeah, and look at how well we’ve done with that.”

At this point in time the kid burst out laughing. “Holy shit this made my night.” He took a sip of his coffee and waved. “Have a good night fam,” he said as he walked out the door.

“Did he just say fam? Can he be my new best friend?” Tae demanded. 

“The fuck am I?” Jimin asked indignantly. 

“Replaced obviously,” Yoongi said. Then regretted his words as Jimin’s face fell slightly then smoothed out into a laugh. 

“Bitchy Yoongi tonight,” Jimin said. Fuck, now Yoongi felt bad. He forgot about Jimin’s love problems with Tae and Hobi. And Tae’s seemingly lack of interest in relationships at all. _And_ Hobi’s seemingly lack of interest in Jimin. _And_ Jimin being poly-curious. God, it was a mess. And Yoongi was the one who sat and thought they were all dumb pining idiots who need to research poly relationships and get their shit together. Cause he’s good like that.

“Fuck you kid.” 

“Still not interested.” 

Jin sighed. “Okay idiots. Get ready to start closing. I’ve got four closers tonight.”

“Ew fuck closing,” Tae commented. “This is why I get off at eleven.”

“That’s a mood,” Jackson said.

“Also someone tell Hobi to switch to single booth,” Namjoon added.

“Yeah that too. See Joonie this is why you’re the First Assistant,” Jin said.

“Because I use common sense ...?” Namjoon asked, earning him a glare.

“Jin why the fuck are you GM?” Yoongi asked. “Sometimes I wonder if you even know how to run the place.”

“Bitch, I’m the GM cause I fucking worked for it.” Jin turned and pointed at him. “And you act like you know how to.” 

Yoongi paused. “I surprisingly have no comeback for that.”

“Suck it.”

“That’s Joon’s job.”

“What the fuck Yoongi.” Namjoon and Jin said at the same time.

Yoongi shrugged. “Hey, if you two are just gonna sit and pine I’m gonna point it out.”

“I mean... fair,” Jimin said. Jin glowered at him while Namjoon sighed exasperatedly. 

Tae nodded in agreement. “Okay I’m gonna get Hobi-hyung up here.” He then turned on his headset. “Hey Hobi, time to switch to single booth. Also hurry up so you can see them all bitching.”

“Fuck off Tae,” everyone said.

“Wow rude.”

“You expect anything less?” Hoseok asked as he came up to the bagging station. 

“Not really,” Tae replied.

Jin sighed. “Okay Tae, MJ, Yoongi, and Jimin get the fuck out of here. It’s almost eleven and I don’t want to deal with your shit till tomorrow. I already gotta deal with my closers for two more hours.” 

“Combine that with Jinyoung-ah and Jaebeom-ah instead of Jinjin and I,” Myungjun said.

Jin sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Why do I work night shifts?” 

“Asking the real questions here,” Yoongi said. 

“Anyway, get the fuck out of my store and have a good night.” 

Myungjun laughed. “Love you too Jin-hyung.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you all - now get the fuck out.”

That garnered laughs as the four headed back to the clock in station to clock out.

Before they all left the store, Yoongi offered to give them all a ride home (since he knew that most the night crew were all college students and broke as fuck, and of the four that just got off he knew that he was the only one with a car). Yoongi didn’t want them walking home in the dark, even though Jimin and Tae shared an apartment and Myungjun lived in the same complex as them with Jinwoo. He also lowkey wanted to make up for his stupid mouth to Jimin, and he knew Jimin would pick that up. He was good like that. This offer was met with enthusiastic thankfulness from the devils. With that settled they headed out to Yoongi’s car and piled in. Yoongi started the car and began the drive to the apartment complex.

“So hyung that last customer was cute,” Tae started.

“Like a bunny. He had bunny teeth. He reminded me of a bunny,” Jimin added then paused. “I’m calling him bunny boy now.”

“Continue that and see what’ll happen,” Yoongi said. “And Jimin, don’t think I don’t see you. I saw you ditching me when that kid came in.”

“Hyung, I would never,” Jimin gasped in offense. 

“Wait what happened?” Myungjun asked. 

“Nothing!” Yoongi said as the evil duo interrupted him and explained. Myungjun’s grin only grew larger as the story went on.

After dealing with some not so subtle teasing from Tae and Jimin about the last customer (and Myungjun once the situation was explained to him), he dropped the trio off at their apartment complex and breathed out a sigh of relief, resting his head on the steering wheel. As much as he loved them, sometimes they were too much. Sighing once more, he started the car and headed home to attempt some sleep, determinedly NOT thinking about the kid tonight. He’d probably never see him again.

* * *

Yugyeom was having a peaceful night. Well as peaceful a night one could have with a for-once-in-his-life hyped up Mark Tuan for a roommate. 

To be fair, Yugyeom had lucked out with his roommates. Both Mark and Jeongguk were rather calm and quiet individuals but could get hyped up in the right situations. But generally they were quiet which made rooming with them nice. Yugyeom himself could be all over the place, he was pretty emotional, thankfully the other two didn’t mind. They were a close bunch. Their friend group was pretty chill about it too, nobody cared if you weren’t like what society was like, they loved you anyway.

Yugyeom was glad he met them his freshman year of college, he wasn’t sure he’d have made it otherwise. 

But as much as he loved them ….they had their moments.

Said moment was occurring right now, with a hyped up Mark and a recently arrived home Jeongguk. Yugyeom had no idea what was going on in the living room but Mark seemed to be teasing Guk about something…. And begging for fries?

Bitch, he wanted fries. 

So Yugyeom left his room and homework with an imminent due date and burst into the living room demanding fries.

* * *

Sometimes Jeongguk regretted his friend choices.

Right now was one of those times. 

Arriving home to his shared dorm room, the usually calm Mark immediately demanded fries upon smelling them. 

Jeongguk said no of course, but because he was tired and an actual idiot, he blurted out 'that a cute employee rang him up and handed him his food and he bought the fucking food so he was going to enjoy it before suffering an all-nighter.'

Mark immediately stopped begging for fries and an evil grin appeared on his face and in that moment Jeongguk knew he fucked up. 

“And you’re totally gonna think about that employee right…?” he asked, grin widening.

“Fuck _off_, hyung,” Jeongguk snapped. “No, I’m not.” He totally was. He couldn’t get Yoongi off his mind. 

“Maybe I will if you give me some fries.”

“_NO_.”

And then suddenly a wild Yugyeom burst in the living room. “BITCH WHERE ARE THE FRIES?”

Jeongguk groaned. “Not you too.”

“Hey Gyeomie, guess what happened to Kook at McDick’s?” Mark said.

“Why do you insist on calling it that?” Yugyeom asked.

“'Cause Canadians are fantastic.”

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. “Why are you like this?”

“So what happened to Kook?” Yugyeom asked. 

Wow, he was fucking ignored. Fucking rude.

“He met a cute employee,” Mark said with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Oh God, please save my soul.” 

Yugyeom gave a loud gasp. “HE DID???” Then he turned on Jeongguk. “Girl or boy?”

“Gyeomie, can we not.” 

“Kook, let me live through you.”

“You literally have a boyfriend. You guys have the softest relationship ever I swear. What could you POSSIBLY live through me?”

Yugyeom waved a hand. “Details.” He paused. “Speaking of them, give me the deets.”

“Never say that again.” Jeongguk and Mark deadpanned. 

“_Rude_,” Yugyeom said with a huff. “Anyway seriously, details.”

“We won’t leave you alone till you tell us,” Mark added.

Jeongguk gave up. “I had a random ass craving for McDonald’s, had no self control and broke my healthy streak. The employee that rang me up was super cute. And I got to laugh my ass off at a crew that’s basically a dysfunctional family. Also, I got some people watching in for psych class. That’s all.”

“You still never answered me if they were a boy or girl. Or neither. Could’ve been non-binary. That’s cool too,” Yugyeom pushed.

“As far as I know he was a guy. He had a deep voice, I think he had a slight satoori but I couldn’t tell for sure. But he had mostly androgynous features, yet he still looked pretty masculine. It might have been the aura he gave off. But he also looked really soft and his hair color looked really nice on him, I mean that blonde should be illegal and-”

“HOLY SHIT KOOK HAS A CRUSH!” Both idiots cheered. Jeongguk’s mouth slammed firmly shut at that outburst and he could feel a blush coming on.

“**Shut _up_**.”

“_HELL NO_! This is fantastic!” Yugyeom exclaimed. “You almost NEVER have crushes. Mostly because you’re shy as fuck, but still.”

“The last crush you had was that one girl in your photography class last semester, but you lost interest pretty quickly, then before that was that one guy in your math class, and before that was like your freshman year when you had your bi-crisis,” Mark added.

Jeongguk looked down. “And look what came of that. Nothing.”

Mark placed a comforting hand on Jeongguk’s shoulders. “He was a dick we know. And all of us are willing to punch him again for you. But one good thing came out of it. You figured out who you are, and that’s something not many people can attest to.”

Yugyeom crushed Jeongguk in a hug. “We’re always here for you, Guk! And despite our teasing we’re really happy about this!”

“You deserve the best, Gguk.” Mark said.

Jeongguk felt his eyes water and he wiped at his eyes. “Stop making me cry you assholes.”

Yugyeom and Mark shared a look before grinning. “Time for some fucking MarioKart and ignoring our studies!” Yugyeom exclaimed and they both dragged a laughing teary eyed Jeongguk to the couch to spend the night being happy. 

(Jeongguk did share a few fries.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To add shit, yeah Yoongi is a manager. He’s a certified Swing manager. I won’t be telling you what positions each character holds until Jeongguk notices or they explicitly say. Jin is obviously the GM and Namjoon is the First Asst. Manager. So both of them are salary while Yoongi is a high paid hourly manager.
> 
> Also yeah this is shorter than I usually write oop
> 
> But hey come shout at me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarlitGalaOFC and join my Discord writing community: https://discord.gg/G5yPppC or any of my other socials on my profile.
> 
> I tend to have updates on my discord usually.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Fuck With Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk's friends wanna see the cutie. 
> 
> Yoongi relates to his favorite singer who covered a meaningful song.
> 
> So, college I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: MENTION OF ACEPHOBIA, AROPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA, NONBIANRYPHOBIA IN THIS CHAPTER.

* * *

As the only person with a car among his roommates and him, Jeongguk was the designated driver to places usually. Since they were broke college students (except Jeongguk because of his parents but we don’t talk about that. Jeongguk is not on good terms with them right now, yet they still gave him a car. Go figure.Though thankfully it is signed under his name so they can’t randomly take it.) They had worked out a system when Jeongguk was unable to pick them up, generally they got someone else in the group or they took the bus. Today he was picking them up from dance practice (instead of working on art commissions for his site or editing his new cover. His literal job. Which is why Yugyeom and Mark usually got a ride home with a dance teammate since they knew Jeongguk used that time to work) since they planned to go the McDonald’s Jeongguk went to the day before, much to his chagrin.

(“Gyeomie do we have to?”

“Yes Guk, I gotta see this cutie that’s got your attention.”

“He does NOT have my attention.”

“Yes he does, now hush hon, we’re going.”)

As embarrassed as he was about it, he was excited at the same time. The employee was cute and Jeongguk _did_ want to get to know him.

Pulling up to the performing arts department, he parked his car, let it honk, and then texted Yugyeom he was there and coming in. He then took a deep breath before entering the dance room. Knowing that some of the team were his entire friend group and all of them begged him to join the team constantly, he needed that breath. Bracing himself, he opened the door and was immediately tackled by Yugyeom and his boyfriend BamBam (nobody calls him by his real name except his mother, he hates it.)

“Dammit you guys!” Jeongguk exclaimed and attempted escape.

“Never!” BamBam exclaimed. “You gotta spill the tea!”

“KIM YUGYEOM WHY DID YOU TELL HIM?”

Yugyeom yelped as Jeongguk broke free to chase him. “I TELL HIM EVERYTHING! MARK-HYUNG SAVE ME!”

Mark looked up from his phone in the corner and just shrugged and then returned to it.

“TRAITOR!”

“You earned it,” Minhyuk commented, walking up and tripping Yugyeom so Jeongguk could catch him. He did a cheesy hair flip with his bangs making the people watching the scene snicker. He grinned with eyes shining under a light brown fringe. “Mission accomplished.” He laughed and walked back to his boyfriend, Moonbin, and high-fived him. He then high-fived the pink haired boy next to Binnie, Sanha, who was Minhyuk and BamBam’s younger roommate.

(The group had met the boy when he had just started college in their freshman year, barely living and determined to follow his dream of being a singer/songwriter. The group took him in immediately, as his family had abandoned him as soon as he graduated high school two years early and didn’t follow what they wanted. Jeongguk found it reflective of his own story, and so did Minhyuk who had also graduated a year early and got kicked out. Sanha floated between everyone’s homes for the remainder of the year and this year he finally was able to move into an apartment with Bammie and Binnie. Though he and Binnie spent more time with the latter’s boyfriend than at home, so Bammie did the same with his own.)

“WHAT KIND OF FRIEND ARE YOU?” Yugyeom exclaimed as Jeongguk wrestled him to the floor.

* * *

“Hobi Hobi Hobi Hobi Hobi-” Tae said repeatedly in Hoseok’s ear. “It’s the kid. It’s the fucking kid.”

“Honorifics are a thing,” Hoseok deadpanned. He was ignored.

“It’s bunny boy!!!!!” Jimin whisper yelled to Hoseok. Tae was vibrating with excitement and Jimin looked close to jumping on the kid.

Hoseok grinned as he watched the bunny kid that, from what he understood, Yoongi seemed smitten with him when he came in the other night. Which knowing Yoongi, was a rare thing. Hoseok knew Yoongi didn’t catch feelings when seeing the boy. Yoongi doesn’t do feelings, he has a hard time even developing them. Which is fine, Hoseok loves him anyway. But surprisingly, Yoongi is very good at giving advice for feelings despite not having them often himself, the guy is hella soft. Hoseok often went to Yoongi with his….own problems with the devil duo Jimin and Taehyung. Yoongi called him an idiot but it didn’t mean he didn’t give him advice. Hoseok knew Yoongi like the back of his hand at this point. Yoongi didn’t like the kid romantically at this point but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t interested, and it sure as hell didn’t mean he couldn’t grow to like him romantically.

As difficult and potentially unlikely it was, it could happen.

“So you guys wanna tease him later?” Tae asked, grinning.

“Of fucking course Tae, who do you think we are? Heathens?” Jimin said, sounding very offending that Tae would even dare to ask that.

“Do we know his name?” Hoseok asked.

Jimin hummed. “I think it’s Kook or Guk or something like that. I’ve heard Yugyeom mention him to BamBam multiple times. Same with Minhyuk and Binnie. Mark-hyung has too when he actually decides to talk. Some other people have mentioned him too.”

“They’re probably all friends. I know they are a close knit group in the dance team,” Hoseok said. “Besides the obvious couples.”

“Think we can get his number from them?” Tae said.

“....that’s totally not creepy Tae,” Jimin deadpanned.

“No! For Yoongi-hyung! Not in a creepy way!” He paused and looked contemplative. “Actually, now that I think about it that sounds creepy.”

Hoseok shrugged. “Well at least we know him kinda. We might get lucky.”

“I think I overheard Minhyuk and Binnie talking about him and they were saying he’s a good dancer and they don’t know why he isn’t on the team,” Jimin said.

Hoseok’s head snapped around so fast they all swore they heard a crack (they probably did, dancing can leave the joints sore). “A good dancer you say?”

Jimin nodded. “Apparently.”

Hoseok looked at the bunny kid currently attempting to strangle Yugyeom who was calling him a muscle pig and calling for help from his boyfriend and friends who were just laughing at him. “If he’s good I wanna see.”

“Dance captain Hobi at his finest,” Jimin said.

Tae looked at him. “Chim, you are literally the co-captain.”

“So?”

“You do the exact same thing.”

“Again, so?”

“Oh they’re leaving,” Hoseok interrupted, watching the bunny kid drag off Yugyeom while Mark and BamBam following. Minhyuk blew kisses at them while Moonbin and Sanha laughed.

Jimin turned to Tae. “Are we that crazy?”

Tae frowned. “I don’t think so-”

“Yes you are,” Hoseok interrupted, ignoring the protests he got for saying it. “Anyway, so we’re totally gonna tease Yoongles at work aren’t we?”

Jimin grinned. “Do you expect anything less from us?”

“Actually speaking of Yoongi-hyung, I need to ask him for a ride to work,” Tae said.

“There are literally three other people here who work with us, why aren’t you asking any of us?” Hoseok asked.

“Cause Yoongi-hyung is better.”

“You just want to bug him at his studio don’t you?” Jimin deadpanned, then grinned. “Not like I wouldn’t do the same.”

Tae grinned. “Guilty.”

“It’s like a 30 minute walk are you sure you don’t want to just ask Jaebum for a ride? I mean he’s here right now, in the corner.” Hoseok said.

“Let me live my life mom!” Tae whined.

“It’s not a phase mom!” Jimin said.

“Stop being fucking memes you shits and figure out what you’re going to do.”

“I know what I’m going to do, oh my god.”

* * *

It had been a long ass day at the studio.

Yoongi had been working all fucking day and while he had gotten some shit done, he wasn’t having a good day. He wasn’t able to actually complete any songs, which really sucked for his mixtape. He had no idea where he was going with the songs he had for it. Namjoon said they were coming along but Yoongi was a perfectionist so of course he didn’t listen to Namjoon. Since he couldn’t figure out what the fuck to do with his mixtape he worked on other songs for his fans. It had been a while since he had released anything to the group’s Soundcloud. Namjoon and Hobi had been releasing stuff to said Soundcloud as well as YouTube and Spotify. Hell Namjoon was even working on a second mixtape. They even teased about a new song with all of them in it (the fans had gone wild), thanks to Jin. Jin was a blessing to this world in handling all their social media stuff and all the fans. But he, Yoongi, a.k.a Agust D, personally hasn’t released any of his own stuff in a while. So the fans deserved _something_. But things were still not going well, despite his valiant efforts. He just couldn’t focus.

So oddly enough, when Namjoon finally got out of class around 2 and came into the studio, Yoongi was not in a good mood.

“Hey hyung. How’s songwriting going?”

Namjoon got a growl of frustration in reply.

“Not well I take it?”

Yoongi sighed and placed his forehead on his desk. “No. I can’t think of anything for my mixtape and all my music I want to release for the fans that aren’t with my mixtape; I can’t finish or focus on them.”

Namjoon placed a plastic bag (probably food from Seokjin, he often gives Namjoon food when he knows that Namjoon is heading to the studio. Yoongi is lucky enough to get some too. Jin really does have a soft spot) on his own desk and sat down in his desk chair. “Something on your mind hyung?”

“I can’t tell if you’re teasing or not.”

Namjoon grinned.

“You little shit. Is this about last night - I swear to fucking god.”

“I never said anything about last night, hyung.” The little shit needed to wipe that smug look off his face. “Thinking about someone? Perhaps ...a cute customer?”

Yoongi groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I fucking hate you.”

“Thanks hyung, I love you too.”

“No, you love Jin-hyung.”

Namjoon’s eyes lowered and his grin faded. “I guess.”

Yoongi looked at him. “Joon-ah what’s wrong?”

Namjoon turned around in his chair and looked at his black screens. “I don’t know what to do about Jin-hyung.”

Yoongi frowned. “Walk me through it, Joon. Tell hyung what’s going on.” He lowered his voice and tried to sound softer for Namjoon, attempting to be comforting. He knew Namjoon felt safer when a person softened their tone and lowered their voice when he was vulnerable. Yoongi still wanted to fucking kill the bastard that made Namjoon ever feel otherwise.

Namjoon sighed and hugged himself, closing off. “I don’t want to.”

“Joon-ah…”

“I can’t, Yoongi. I can’t.”

Yoongi didn’t miss the lack of honorifics. This was obviously upsetting to Namjoon and as much as he wanted to help, he knew not to push. Namjoon would tell him when he was good and ready, he just had to figure out the words in his head.

“Alright. If you’re sure.” Namjoon flashed him a grateful smile at his statement.

Suddenly, there was a burst of rapid knocks. Yoongi and Namjoon shared a look.

“What the fuck.” Yoongi stated.

“Whom the fuck?” Namjoon said.

“You fucking meme,” Yoongi said, earning a shit eating grin, and went to open the door.

As soon as he opened the door, he regretted it, since Taehyung burst in the door. Yoongi wanted to scream. Where was Jimin??? The Devil Duo wouldn’t be appearing right? The Devil Duo are never allowed in his studio together as of last year, he’s still traumatized. The Cat Incident of 2017, we don’t talk about it.

“HYUNGS!!!! I GOT SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU!!” Tae screamed and jumped on Yoongi’s couch that was set up on the wall opposite all of the rappers’ desks.

“Hi to you too, Tae,” Namjoon said, booting up his computer. “What brings you here?”

“Well I did come to ask for a ride to work but-” Tae started.

“_No_.” Yoongi interrupted and sat back down in his own chair.

“Hyung please, I walked here from dance practice.”

“You could’ve literally asked Jaebum-ssi or someone else.”

“But then I couldn’t see you!” Tae was pouting now and had his arms crossed. Namjoon was laughing behind his hand, the traitor. “Besides, I’m already here.”

Yoongi sighed. “Whatever. You just wanted to bug us, but okay go off I guess.”

“Sometimes I forget how much of a meme you are,” Tae commented, earning a glare.

“It’s like someone is writing our story and knows too many memes,” Namjoon said.

The other two just stared at him.

“I don’t know, I think too much, fuck off.”

Yoongi patted him on the shoulder.

“Anyway,” Tae said. “I was actually just coming to ask for a ride and bug you but-”

“Knew it,” Yoongi interrupted.

“BUT! I got a notification and if you guys ever checked your phones - _Yoongi-hyung_ \- then you’d see it.”

“Oh, do you mean the new upload from Golden Closet Productions?” Namjoon asked. “I saw, but haven’t listened yet.”

Tae inhaled.

“Oh, fuck, here we go,” Yoongi muttered.

“IT’S FUCKING AMAZING AND I LOVE HIS VOICE AND IS IT BAD THAT I WANT TO MARRY SOMEONE I ONLY KNOW AS A VOICE?”

“I mean he does dance covers occasionally. But he never shows his face,” Namjoon stated.

“To quote Frozen, you can’t marry a man you just met,” Yoongi deadpanned then paused. “I hate myself for referencing that.”

“Still ironic that that line came from a fucking Disney movie though,” Namjoon said.

“Anyway, so he released a new cover and I’m dying,” Tae continued as if he wasn’t interrupted.

“Play it then,” Yoongi said.

Tae beamed. “YESSSSSS!!!” He then scrambled for his phone and went to hook it up to Yoongi’s bluetooth speakers. “Wait, fuck, I gotta set up Bluetooth _why_?” he exclaimed. Yoongi sighed. Hyperactive kid. He then went to Golden Closet’s website on his computer (why no it wasn’t bookmarked you’re seeing things) and searched for Golden Closet’s newest cover and found it before Tae finished. He unplugged his headphones and hit play and an ad played. Tae pouted. “Fuck, you beat me.”

“Sucks to be you. My computer speakers are better than my bluetooth anyway.”

“Shut the fuck up and turn it up hyung.” Namjoon snapped. So Yoongi did.

A unique twang noise started up and then a subtle beat came out from Yoongi’s speakers. And then a soft masculine voice started singing, making the three boys fall silent, as they read the lyrics on the screen. Golden Closet did mostly English covers, so he would translate them for his fans and put Korean lyrics in his videos, some of his fans also put subtitles in other languages too.

_I got two diamonds and a feather_

_Gimme three reasons why we ain’t together_

_I push my body through the floor like_

_Cause I fuck with myself more than anybody else_

_You’re on the corner waiting for my love_

_I put two walls behind you just to lean on_

_You’re gonna need em cuz I stood you up_

_Cause I fuck with myself more than anybody else_

“Holy shit-” Yoongi said.

“What a mood!” Tae agreed.

“That’s some clever writing,” Namjoon commented. “Props to the writer.”

“He delivered it well too,” Yoongi said. The three men went quiet as the chorus came and faded into verse 2 with a comment from Tae on the heavy beat.

_I caught you fishing through the fodder_

_This whole relationship is under water_

_You’re facing ages in your third strike_

_Cause I fuck with myself more than anybody else_

“Can I cry from his voice?” Tae asked, with a wobble in his voice.

“Go ahead. I understand completely.” Namjoon said, patting Tae’s head gently.

“Yoongi-hyung, you’ve been quiet are you okay?” Tae asked after the second chorus came and transitioned to the next part.

“Shut up. I’m listening.”

“And reading since neither of you can fully understand English, but go off I guess.“ Namjoon said.

“Fuck off.”

The music then changed slightly, signalling the bridge then the final fade into the last chorus.

_I used to have a nickel for what you say, baby_

_Your words would burn me in the third degree_

_Now baby look what it’s come to_

_Cause my love is the one_

_(My love is the one)_

As the song faded with echoing vocals, the boys remained still, taking in the song.

Tae suddenly sat up straight and inhaled. “OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM!”

“That was a good cover,” Namjoon said. “Ten outta ten would recommend.”

“Hyung _stop_,” Tae said, groaning while Namjoon grinned.

Namjoon turned to Yoongi, who had a blank look on his face, and his grin faded into a frown. “Are you okay, hyung?”

Tae looked over too. “Hyung?”

Yoongi blinked at them and opened his mouth, then closed it then opened it again, as if trying to find the words to say.

“Hyung?” Namjoon pressed.

“It was a very relatable song,” Yoongi said quietly. Namjoon’s face smoothed into a blank look. Tae looked confused. “And whoever Golden Closet is, it was relatable to him too.”

Tae was quiet while Namjoon reached over to hold Yoongi’s hand. “Hyung, we can still kill that girl.”

“What girl?” Tae asked.

“A douchey one,” Namjoon said, his normally soft eyes narrowed and sharpened in quickly darkening anger.

“Joon-ah it’s fine,” Yoongi protested.

“It’s fucking not though.”

“Joon-ah.”

Namjoon huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine. I’ll stop. Still want to kill her though.”

“_Joon-ah_.”

“Sorry hyung,” Namjoon said with a careless shrug, showing he really wasn’t sorry. Yoongi didn’t expect him to really be. He didn’t blame Namjoon for feeling that way. They both had their shitty past relationships.

“So what happened ...?” Tae asked hesitantly. Yoongi was silent while Namjoon glared at the wall behind Tae. Tae looked between them. “Who is this girl you’re talking about…?”

Yoongi sighed. “Not right now, Tae-yah. It’s hard to talk about.”

Tae nodded in understanding. “Alright hyung, but I’m always here if you need to talk okay?”

“Thank you.” They all fell into relative silence as Yoongi turned around to play more of Golden Closet’s music. He put on the cover _bodyache_, originally done by a small American artist called Purity Ring. Yoongi couldn’t help but wonder how GCP found these artists.

“The song was called _Fuck With Myself_ and it’s by Banks,” Tae said, looking at his phone.

“He does a lot of songs from Banks.” Namjoon stated.

“She writes good music,” Yoongi said.

The trio fell into silence once more, Golden Closet’s music playing softly in the background. Tae fiddled with his phone and Namjoon attempted to get some work done while Yoongi started blankly at the wall. The only movement occurred when after a few more songs had played and they realized they needed to get to work (by they, it was really just Namjoon and Yoongi, Tae clocked on a couple hours after them, but he does what he wants and Yoongi honestly didn’t really mind giving him a ride there), so they quickly packed up and rushed out of the studio.

* * *

“So I see you did a new cover, Kook,” Yugyeom said when they got home. Yugyeom wanted to go straight to McDonald’s, but Mark pointed out that Kook went around ten at night and it would be pointless to go in this early. So, they decided to return to the apartment and get some shit done before going out.

Jeongguk hummed as he flopped on their old couch (they got it at a garage sale and it was falling apart. They needed a new one). “Yeah I did.”

“I wanna hear it!” Bammie said, sitting next to him.

“Already on top of it,” Mark said as he tapped rapidly on his phone. Eventually he got it and hooked it up to their bluetooth speaker on the dining table. Jeongguk’s cover started playing and they all inhaled softly.

“You did this one, Guk?” Yugyeom asked softly. Jeongguk nodded and looked at his hands. His friend group knew about his love for a lot of smaller English speaking artists. Banks was one of his favorites because of how relatable her lyrics are. His friends knew a lot of the songs by heart because they wanted to support him.

“You did amazing.” Bammie complimented. Mark nodded in agreement.

“Did you do this one because of what we talked about the other day…?” Yugyeom asked.

Jeongguk shrugged and looked at his hands in his lap. “Yeah, I guess. I also just really like the song and had been meaning to cover it.”

“You can really hear the emotion in your voice.” Mark said.

“It still hurts sometimes to think about him,” Jeongguk whispered, voice cracking. "What he _did_.” The other boys frowned and looked at each other while Yugyeom went to hug him. Jeongguk let out a shaky breath when Yugyeom hugged him and began to cry. The others immediately joined Yugyeom in hugging Jeongguk, whose sobs began to wrack his body.

“I still want to kill him,” Yugyeom said, wiping at Jeongguk’s tears. Bammie had become a clingy octopus and was petting Jeongguk’s hair.

Mark put a hand on Jeongguk’s shoulder. “Guk-ah,” he said gently. “You are worth more than what he did to you. You are not a toy. You are not something to be tossed aside. You are not at fault for his choices and actions. You are loved. You are strong. You are not alone and you _never_ will be. Your scars and experiences do not define you. They make you who you are and they are proof that you have overcome and have moved forward. Never forget that.”

Jeongguk sniffled. “I love you guys. I’m not sure where I’d be without you.”

“Probably somewhere we don’t like to think of,” Bammie said.

Yugyeom nuzzled Jeongguk’s cheek. “Want me to put on your favorite artist?”

“Be more specific Gyeomie. I have a lot.”

“That really successful underground rap group, Trinity, you know the group we all become fanboys for when we go to shows,” Yugyeom said with a sarcastic tilt to his voice.

“Please,” Jeongguk said, ignoring the sarcasm as he wiped his eyes. BamBam waved his hands away and began wiping his eyes with a tissue he must have gotten at some point and fussed over him. Mark just pulled Jeongguk into his arms, a solid comfort.

Yugyeom pulled away a bit from the cuddle pile to get his phone out of his back pocket. “Which song do you want?”

“Can we listen to their album _Reminisce_?”

Yugyeom nodded and messed with his phone. “I’m playing _Reflection_. I know that’s your favorite off the album.”

“Thanks Gyeomie,” Jeongguk said as he snuggled into the cuddle pile that was his friends, listening to calming music, eventually deciding to kick each other’s asses in MarioKart.

* * *

Later, they finally untangled themselves (and stopped screaming at each other when they lost a race) and prepared to go to McDonald’s.

(“You mean McDick’s.” Mark insisted.

“Literally _shut up_, hyung,” Yugyeom snapped. Jeongguk just laughed with Bammie.)

Hopping into Jeongguk’s car, Yugyeom and Mark continued to bicker while Bammie just turned up the music to tune them out.

“So Guk,” Bammie started (Yugy and Mark were STILL bickering. Jeongguk was beginning to wonder if he should’ve timed it. It feels like a new record.)

“Yeah?” Jeongguk hummed.

“What’s the cute employee like?” he asked. “Also, I’m gonna play some Trinity. It might shut up the losers in the back.”

Jeongguk groaned. “Please do, they’re getting annoying. This might be a new record.”

“It is. At least, I’m pretty sure it is,” Bammie chuckled as he plugged in his phone. “I’m gonna blast _Hope World_.”

“Fuck yeah. J-Hope is a badass,” Jeongguk said as _Baseline_ blasted in his speakers. Mark and Yugyeom immediately shut up and started screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Jeongguk watched them through the rear-view mirror and shook his head fondly at them.

“I thought you liked RM best?”

“RM is my role model, Agust D is my favorite and J-Hope just wrecks my soul,” Jeongguk answered, seriously. “_Especially_ when he fucking dances? Like dude, _Boy Meets Evil_, enough said.”

“Valid,” Bammie said. “So anyway, the cute employee?”

Nodding, Jeongguk made a turn onto the highway towards the college and the McDonald's. “Yeah, um he’s like really soft looking?

“Soft?”

“Like his face was really soft? And he had like feline looking eyes. And god his hair, like? God, it was so good looking, I wish I could pull it off, fucking BLONDE. I felt personally attacked okay? He’s both cute and intimidating. And he’s SASSY. Like, for like the entire time I was waiting for my food, I was highly entertained by him sassing his coworkers. It was hilarious. They acted like a dysfunctional family. But yeah he was just.... So cute.”

“Sounds like a match made in heaven,” Yugyeom teased.

“_Fucking shut up_,” Jeongguk hissed and glared at him in the rear-view mirror. Yugyeom just grinned at him and returned to attempting to keep up with J-Hope’s flow.

Arriving at the McDonald’s Jeongguk went to, he parked in the mostly empty parking lot (the drive-thru looked like hell again. Jeongguk continued to wonder why people didn’t just get out of their damn cars). All the guys piled out of the car with Yugyeom and BamBam attempting to rap Trinity’s _Cypher Part 2_ together at the top of their lungs. And failing spectacularly. Jeongguk locked the doors behind them and they headed inside. Heading inside made Jeongguk’s nerves rise. Would Yoongi be there?

Jeongguk paused in the doorway. His breath hitched. There he was. He was at the front counter again. God, he is so fucking cute. Jeongguk is Jeon-fucking-shook.

Yugyeom and Bammie sauntered up to the counter, Mark following behind at a slower pace, Jeongguk hesitantly followed. Yoongi looked at them all with appraising eyes. “How can I help you today?” he asked, a slight drawl in his voice that gave Jeongguk shivers.

Yugyeom and Bammie share grins and oh _god_ Jeongguk knows those looks. The duo are about to do something stupid. Jeongguk wants to fucking die™. Judging by the look on Mark’s face, he probably realized the same thing. Even Yoongi looks wary and keeps glancing back and forth between them.

Yugyeom clears his throat. “What would the chef recommend today?"

Yoongi looks at him oddly. “This is a McDonald's sir,” he says slowly.

Bammie covers Yugyeom’s mouth. “Sorry my boyfriend doesn't have proper etiquette," he says, while Yugyeom licks his hand. Bammie isn't even phased and just wipes it on Yugyeom’s shoulder.

Yugyeom looks sheepish. “Sorry, what would the _Mc_Chef recommend?” he asks, completely monotone. Bammie cracks up and bends over from laughter. Mark facepalms while snickering. Jeongguk just really wants to die™.

Bammie looks up. “Can I get some napkins?”

“There’s some behind you by the drink machine,” Yoongi said with a blank look on his face.

“Bammie, you mean McNapkins.”

“Oh right sorry.” The two then crack up once more.

Yoongi looks like he wants to stab someone.

Jeongguk relates.

Meanwhile, there is snickering from the employees behind Yoongi. And something that sounds like a windshield wiper… but also a laugh? Yoongi turns around and glares behind him at the other employees.

Jeongguk sighs. “Okay, enough being little shits,” he said stepping up and smacking both of them on the back of the neck. “I’d like a fucking BigMac meal. Medium. And I’ll take a chocolate shake instead of the drink,” he ordered, ignoring the rowdy couple’s protests behind him. “Cause I’m healthy today.”

“I’ll take the same thing,” Mark said, Yoongi nodded and began ringing up the order. Mark turned slightly to Jeongguk with a grin. “Jeongguk willingly breaking his healthy streak? What has the world come to?”

Jeongguk was about to open his mouth to retort when he was interrupted by a loud voice from the kitchen area. “WAIT A SECOND!” A relatively tall male with brown hair and almond eyes dressed in the McDonald's uniform and an apron over it came running around the corner from what Jeongguk assumes is the grill area. “MARK-HYUNG IS THAT YOU?”

Mark startles. “Jackson-ssi?” He looks annoyed. Jeongguk wonders why.

One of the crew members from the other night, the soft looking one pops out from behind the ice cream machine with gloves on and a smile on his face. “Wait, Mark-hyung?”

“Jimin-ah?” (The immediate mood swing Mark’s face goes through shocks Jeongguk. He went from annoyed to soft in 0.5 seconds).

Jeongguk isn’t sure where this is going. He is very very very concerned.

“Oh shit, hi Jimin-hyung!” Yugyeom exclaims, finally done whining with Bammie about being ignored.

“Yugyeom!” the male, Jimin, exclaims.

Judging by the look on Yoongi’s face he’s regretting life. Once again, Jeongguk can relate.

Another male appears from behind Jimin, he was the one with the deep voice and silver-blonde hair in the window area the other night. “Mark-hyung and Yugyeom are here?”

“Tae-hyungah!” Yugyeom exclaimed.

“Yugyeom is here!”

“Someone save me…” Yoongi muttered.

Fucking same.

“I didn’t realize you guys worked at this McDonald’s!” Bammie said.

“Yeah, we get to suffer here,” Taehyung said solemnly. “One day… we will have our revenge.” Jimin nodded in agreement.

Jeongguk found himself both confused by and also in agreement with that statement.

He coughed slightly. “Um, not to interrupt this uh... reunion, but please fucking order YugyBam.” This earned him mixed reactions, glares from Yugyeom and Bammie and amused expressions from the crew and Mark.

“Did you give them a ship name?” Taehyung asked. “Cause if so, can we be friends please?”

Jeongguk blinked. “Uh...I guess…?”

Kinda a weird reason to be friends, but Jeongguk’s seen worse. Namely Yugyeom. We don’t talk about the Incident of 2017.

“HELL YES!” Taehyung exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air and almost hitting Jimin in the head, who glared at him and smacked his arm, Tae just grinned sheepishly.

“Tae!!! Language!” The tall man with dimples snapped from where he was standing next to the broad shouldered man. Both were dressed in dress pants and a dress shirt and had bags in their hands. They appeared to be bagging food that was made by Jimin and Taehyung. Jeongguk assumed them both to be managers like Yoongi. “Also Jimin, change your gloves.” The male pouted but disappeared, Jeongguk assumed he went to do so.

Taehyung visibly pouted. “You’re so mean tonight, Joonie-hyung,” he whined. The male let out an exasperated noise while the broad man snickered. Now that Jeongguk thought about it, the broad man looked kinda like the guy Yoongi was sassing the other night. Jin or something.

The broad man patted “Joonie-hyung” on the shoulder. “Bless your heart, Namjoon-ah.”

“Jin-hyung you aren’t helping,” Namjoon deadpanned. The broad man, aptly named Jin (Jeongguk was right), shrugged and laughed as he folded a bag with food and handed it to the red haired male by the drink machine. He looked familiar too.

“Jin-hyung is right Namjoon,” the red haired male said after returning from handing the bag out the window. “Bless your heart.”

“Jaebeom, you are also not helping.”

Jaebeom shrugged while Taehyung leaned further over a reappeared Jimin to poke Namjoon in the cheek. “Joonie-hyung deserves all the blessings.”

Jimin pushed Taehyung off him and nodded vehemently in agreement. “**Yeah**, he does!!!”

Namjoon looked ready to throw something. His face was so red.

There was a cough and a sigh and Jeongguk’s attention snapped back to the sarcastic employee in front of him. “How about we all agree Joon-ah deserves all the blessings and get back to work?” he said firmly, making most of the employees whine and Namjoon look both grateful and exasperated at the same time. Namjoon then snapped at Tae to also change his gloves while Yoongi turned back to Jeongguk and his friends. “Anything else I can get you?”

Yugyeom gasped. “OH YEAH - WE HAVE TO ORDER BAMMIE!”

“Oh yeah,” Bammie said calmly, in comparison to his weird ass boyfriend.

Yugyeom grinned. “I’d like a Supreme Shrimp Burger meal. Large.”

“Can I get a Double Quarter Pounder medium meal please?” Bammie said.

Yoongi rolled his eyes and rang up the food. “Anything else?”

Jeongguk shook his head. “We’re good.” He swiftly turned around and glared at his friends. “I’m paying you hoes.”

“But I'm the hyung,” Mark protested.

“I have more readily available cash. And it’s your turn to buy groceries anyway.”

“Shit you right-” Yugyeom said.

Jeongguk grinned. “I win. To go please.” He turned back to an amused Yoongi and inserted the card into the chip reader. The blonde manager handed him his receipt and YugyBam’s cups and told him his food would be out shortly. He then moved to make the chocolate shakes.

Taehyung whooped and then both him and Jimin disappeared back behind the ice cream machine.

The group decided to take a seat at the table next to the drink machine. And by seat, really it was Mark and Jeongguk sitting on the stools while Yugyeom sat on one and Bammie then sat on him after the two got their sodas.

“Gay,” Jeongguk teased.

“Never would have guessed, Ggukie,” Yugyeom replied. Bammie pulled out his phone and made himself comfortable. Mark was already ignoring them in favor of watching the crew.

Jeongguk grinned as he noticed Mark was staring at one in particular. “Hey Mark-hyung, you have a crush there?”

He got a glare and was flipped off as a response.

Yugyeom grinned. “Mark-hyung has a crush?”

“Fucking stop,” Mark groaned. “It’s complicated and I really don’t wanna talk about it.” From the tone of his voice, he sounded distressed.

Everyone wisely went quiet. In this house, they respect boundaries.

“Hey Yoongi-hyung!” one of the crew called out to the employee who took their order. This drew the group’s attention to the crew.

The blonde rolled his eyes very obviously. Yugyeom and Bammie snickered a little. Jeongguk sighed in exasperation. “Jimin-ah,” the blonde drawled as he expertly put whip cream on the shakes. Jeongguk was impressed at how well he did that while paying more attention to Jimin behind him. He absently stole Yugyeom’s soda and took a drink, ignoring his protests. The hoe got Cherry Coke, no way he was missing out on that.

Jimin was leaning around the ice cream machine again. “Did you listen to GCP’s new cover?” he asked.

Jeongguk choked on Yugyeom’s soda as his friends exchanged shocked looks.

Yoongi hummed. “I did. Tae played it in the studio earlier.”

“IT WAS SO GOOD!” Tae exclaimed from the back, popping out from behind Jimin.

“Food. Customers,” Namjoon deadpanned.

“Oops,” they both said then disappeared behind the machine again.

Jin snickered. “You two need to stay focused.” Namjoon just rolled his eyes. Jin nudged him. “Anyway, I thought the cover was super good, you could hear the emotion in his voice.”

Another employee came up pushing a box of various supplies. He had orange hair and a sunny smile and Jeongguk was impressed with how well he pulled off the orange. “Oh, are we talking about GCP’s new cover?” He stood up, fixing his dress shirt’s sleeves. Jeongguk figured he was also a manager of some sort. “That was a really good cover. His voice is phenomenal.”

Jeongguk was pretty sure he was blushing; if the warmth in his face and Yugyeom’s teasing grin was anything to go by.

Yoongi hummed noncommittally as the new employee tossed a sleeve of clear cups at him. “The song meant something to GCP. He may have done it on a whim, but it still meant something,” he said as he opened the sleeve and began putting cups in the dispenser.

Yugyeom tugged on Jeongguk’s sleeve. “Holy shit Gguk,” he whispered.

Jeongguk just shook his head. Jeongguk was Jeon-fucking-shook once more.

Namjoon handed two closed bag to Yoongi. “Food’s up.” Yoongi took it and the shakes (that he put in a drink carrier) and called out that their food was ready. “You can at least pretend you do your job correctly,” he sighed. Yoongi shrugged and returned to putting the cups in dispensers when the orange haired employee tossed him sleeves.

Yugyeom pushed Jeongguk off his seat. “NOT IT!” And Jeongguk, who was not at ALL prepared for the sudden push, fell flat on his ass.

“What the _fuck_, Gyeommie?” Jeongguk spluttered as his friends cracked up. He was pretty sure the employees were snickering too. He glared at Yugyeom who stopped laughing long enough to gulp at the look on Jeongguk’s face.

“SHIT BAMMIE LET ME UP!” he yelled at his boyfriend who promptly got up and Yugyeom fucking _yeeted_ out the door.

Jeongguk stood up and dusted himself off. “I’m killing him later. We live together, he can’t escape me.”

Bammie laughed. “Please don’t kill him too much. I happen to like my boyfriend.”

“No guarantees.”

“Doesn’t help his case that you drove us either,” Mark pointed out.

“And you’re holding his food hostage,” BamBam said.

Jeongguk grinned and tossed Mark his keys then went to grab the food. Yoongi was standing by it and eyed him up and down. “You okay there, kid?”

Jeongguk shrugged. “I’m fine. He knows he’s dead later. It’s cool.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “Have a good night kid,” he said with a smile that showed off his gums. And it was fucking _cute_.

If Jeongguk was inwardly squealing inside, nobody had to know.

* * *

The group were already piled in the car when Jeongguk came out with the food. He got in the driver’s seat and handed the bags to Mark who was in the front this time. Yugyeom was sprawled over BamBam and the backseat.

“Gyeommie, I hope you know I’m slaughtering you in MarioKart later.” Jeongguk said as he put his straw in his shake.

“Fuck,” Yugyeom groaned much to the amusement of everyone else. Mark handed out the food while Jeongguk started the car and pulled out of the lot.

“Rip the crew.” Bammie said when they saw the drive-thru line had grown longer while sitting at the stoplight.

“Why the fuck don’t people just get out of their cars?” Yugyeom asked through a mouthful of burger. "The lobby is fucking empty."

“The real que,” Jeongguk said.

“So Jeongguk,” Mark started.

“Yeah?”

“Was the employee that rang us up the one you were smitten with?”

Jeongguk groaned. “I’m taking that as a yes!” Yugyeom said with glee.

“I mean you kept staring when you thought nobody was looking,” BamBam said.

He was?

“Looks like you didn’t even notice,” Yugyeom said with a laugh.

Jeongguk flushed. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I mean he was cute,” Mark said. “Not my type, but cute.”

“Yeah, your type is tall and broad with red hair,” Jeongguk said.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Just saying.”

“You’re getting us off track Jeongguk,” Yugyeom said. “Don’t think I don’t see you, boyo.”

“_No_ idea what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, but side track,” Bammie said.

“Goddamnit Bammie,” Yugyeom groaned.

BamBam laughed. “Sorry, but can we talk about how like half that crew follows Ggukie, including his crush?”

“He’s not my crush,” Jeongguk protested.

“Sure Jan,” was the reply from all of them.

Jeongguk was eternally suffering.

“Anyway, that’s really cool though?” BamBam continued. “Like think about it, you’ve touched these people’s lives.”

“I’m just surprised we didn’t hear any of those employees who are also on the dance team mention GCP before,” Mark said.

“Who all of that crew is on the dance team?” Jeongguk asked.

“Well, Tae-hyungah and Jiminie-hyung are. Jaebeom-hyung is too,” Yugyeom said.

“Jimin-hyung is the co-captain,” Bammie added.

“Hoseok-ah is the captain,” Mark said. “He’s the one with orange hair who came in later.”

“Still trying to figure out how the fuck he pulls that off so well,” Jeongguk said. 

"Honestly it's magic." 

“Jackson-hyung is too,” Bammie said.

“Oh,” Jeongguk said. He looked at Mark. “Do you not like him hyung?”

“What do you mean?” Mark asked.

“Your tone of voice went from pleasant to annoyed as fuck in a split second when he came out.”

Mark sighed and ate a fry. “Yeah, I don’t like him very much.”

“He has like the biggest crush on you,” Yugyeom said.

“Don’t remind me.”

Jeongguk blinked as he pulled into the apartment complex where Bammie lived with Minhyuk and Sanha. “He didn’t seem too bad? Just hyper.”

Mark sighed. “He’s…. Well he’s not the best person.”

Bammie scowled. “He makes gross comments about aces.”

Jeongguk turned around so fast the other three were worried for his neck. “I’m sorry, **what**?”

“That’s what I mean,” Mark said calmly. “He’s bi as far as I know, but he is not respectful at all to a lot of parts of the LGBTQA community. Aces and Aros are a good example.”

“Not to mention he’s super insensitive in general,” Yugyeom added.

Jeongguk grimaced. “Sounds gross. What does he say?”

“Stuff like aces are just straight, especially cishet aces, and really don’t belong in the LGBT community because and I quote ‘nobody cares if you don’t have sex,' even though the A in LGBTQA is for Aces and Aros and is recognized by several large websites and is officially recognized by the LGBT community,” Bammie said.

“I’ve heard him say that aces aren’t as oppressed as “the rest of the LGBT community,’ and then he literally never mentions Aros, as if they don’t exist,” Yugyeom added.

“That’s not all he says either,” Mark said.

“I’ve seen Tae-hyungah have to hold Hoseok-hyung back after he made some gross comment about non-binary people,” BamBam said. “Something about how they should just pick a gender because it’s weird to refer to people as a plural or gender neutral pronoun in like; English, or to just not refer to them with gendered terms. Then proceeded to say it’s not even possible to be anything but what your biology says. So also transphobic.”

“What the fuck.” Jeongguk was just appalled.

“I’m not sure why Hobi-hyung got so heated, but I can still understand the anger. I hate being invalidated, don’t wish it on anyone.” Yugyeom took a bite of his burger. “But he was super pissed off and Jackson had to do hard as fuck exercises all practice and he didn’t even know why.”

BamBam’s phone buzzed.

“You should probably check that,” Jeongguk said as he finally dug into his BigMac.

“It’s Minhyuk. He’s asking how long we’re gonna sit in the parking lot and if I’m coming up or not and if anyone else is coming. He also let me know that Binnie is over.”

“I’m going home,” Jeongguk said. “I have an art thing to finish. Since it got interrupted today.”

Mark scowled. “You didn’t have to pick us up.”

“Yeah, I did.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “I’m going home too. Tell Minhyuk I said thanks though.”

Yugyeom laughed. “I’ll stay the night Bammie. I’m stealing your good sweats though.”

“Hey fuck you, I was gonna wear those.”

“Rock-paper-scissors?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Get out of my goddamn car first you hoes,” Jeongguk said. “Tell the demons I say hi.”

BamBam laughed as he and Yugyeom grabbed their shit and hopped out. “Will do. Have a good night, fuckers.”

And with that the couple ran off laughing towards the complex as Jeongguk finished his fucking BigMac.

“Remind me to punch that asshole if I ever see him again,” Jeongguk said.

Mark looked at him curiously as he drank his shake, having already finished his own BigMac and was working on the shake and fries. “Who?”

“Jackson.”

“Respect to elders, dude.”

“He doesn’t deserve it,” Jeongguk said with a scowl as he pulled the car out of the lot.

Mark blinked. “Well fuck. Guk’s got a grudge now.”

“Damn straight I do.”

“Neither of us are straight.”

“Shut the fuck up, hyung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sjkfhskjdfh okay. that was a ride lol. 
> 
> Song link: https://youtu.be/-99e4geCm2w
> 
> Also to note: I don't hate Jackson. I needed someone to be ignorant. And as well, I don't like how he is around Namjoon, I see myself in Namjoon every single time. Every time they interact; Namjoon looks extremely uncomfortable. He looks ready to bolt at any moment, his body is constantly facing away from Jackson as much as possible, his smile is forced and he's way quieter than we all know he can be when he's comfortable. As well, on multiple occasions, I have seen Namjoon PUSH him away only for Jackson to hang all over him again. Now one could say it was playful and normally I would agree, but combined with everything above, no it was not. That was Namjoon straight up trying to get some space. 
> 
> To anyone who thinks of the interview Jackson had where he talked about Namjoon "completing him" and helping solve his issues. I have an answer to that too. You see I went through that. I had a friend who made me extremely uncomfortable all the time. But I forced myself to enjoy their company, to let them touch me and let them hang all over me. When they came to me with their issues, I helped them. Because that's what I do. I didn't WANT to, but I felt I had too. Namjoon is a leader, he helps solve issues. So would it really be far fetched to say Namjoon helps Jackson because he feels he has to? 
> 
> Idk, I know someone will say I'm reading too much into this but really this is all I can see in their interactions and it makes me uncomfy FOR Namjoon. And because of this, I just can't. 
> 
> So to reiterate. I do not hate Jackson. I do not hate GOT7. I just do not like how uncomfortable Namjoon looks around him. But if you decide to stop reading because of this, no hard feelings. This is something I see as obvious, and again, does not reflect on how I feel about GOT7 or Jackson as a whole: simply Jackson's behavior and actions towards Namjoon.


	4. Happy Little Pill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk regrets having friends and Yoongi regrets working at McDonald's with a bunch of idiots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mention of people who aren't very nice to other lgbtqa people and are gatekeepers. Mentions of a difficult relationship. Mentions of Bad Days. And general stupidity and memes.

* * *

Jeongguk sometimes regretted his friends. Don’t get him wrong, he adores them and he’s really not sure where he’d be without them. But some days, they get on his nerves.

Said days would be today.

You see he stopped by the college dance studio again to pick up his roommates. They were gonna go shopping. They had groceries to pick up and Yugyeom wanted some new clothing. He just finished a commission and his eyes hurt and he’s _tired_. 

His chaotic friends had just finished up a routine and the orange haired male from the other night; Hoseok, Jeongguk recalled, told everyone to have a good day and pulled aside the ash blonde, Jimin, and the silver-blonde, Taehyung, to talk quietly with them. The other team members gulped down water. (Jeongguk desperately pretended Jackson wasn’t in the corner talking to a person Jeongguk didn’t recognize) Jeongguk spotted Mark talking to the man he had been staring at the other night along with another man who had his arm wrapped around the first man’s waist.

Damn, complicated didn’t even begin to scratch the surface Mark-hyung. But hey, Jeongguk had no problem supporting his friend. Mark had mentioned before he might be poly. Jeongguk could see why now. 

Minhyuk was laying flat on the ground with Binnie’s face buried in his stomach while Yugyeom and Bammie were sprawled across his legs. Jeongguk shook his head as he walked over. He sat down by Minhyuk’s head and patted his head. “Sup guys.”

“Hi Ggukie,” came the tired replies of his friends.

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. “You guys seem more exhausted than usual.” 

Minhyuk groaned. “Hobi-hyung has been working us harder than usual in preparation for the festival coming up.”

“It’s harder since Sehyoon and Byeongkwan aren’t here cause Sehyoon had that vocal contest out of town and Byeongkwan injured himself and can’t dance for the festival. So we’re down two members,” Bammie said.

“Sehyoon will probably be back in a few days, but he was partnered with his boyfriend Byeongkwan for a performance that was gonna be entered. Then Byeongkwan injured himself after Sehyoon left and registration is closed. So we’re down people and Hobi-hyung wants the rest of us to do our best,” Yugyeom explained after he managed to sit up.

“Hoseok-hyung is a stern teacher,” Binne said, lifting his face from his boyfriend’s stomach. “He’s nice and has a sunny upbeat personality, but he’s a stern ass teacher. Throw Jiminie-hyung in and it’s worse. Jiminie-hyung is kinder than Hoseok-hyung when teaching, but he can be just as brutal.”

“Damn,” Jeongguk said as he began absently giving Minhyuk mini braids in his hair. “Kinda makes me glad I’m not on the team to be honest.”

Minhyuk abruptly sat up, making Jeongguk protest his mini braids were now messed up and Binnie complain about his loss of a pillow. He pointed a finger at Jeongguk who stared at him. “Why the fuck aren’t you on the team?”

Jeongguk blinked slowly and inhaled. “I- what?”

Binnie looked at him with curiosity. “Yeah, why not? You’re a good dancer.”

Goddamnit Binnie.

Jeongguk looked away. “Reasons.” 

“Is it your parents?” Minhyuk asked. 

“That guy we’re gonna kill?” Binnie said.

“No.” Jeongguk said. This is why he hated his friends sometimes.

Yugyeom grimaced at Jeongguk’s face. “I mean I wonder that too sometimes, Ggukie. You never fully explained it to any of us.”

“Not!” Bammie interjected. “That you owe us one,” he said glaring at all of them. They all looked sheepish. 

Minhyuk sighed. “Sorry, it's just, you’re such a good dancer and I feel like you could make something out of it. More than the occasional practice session with us.” Or covers was the part he didn’t add. They all knew he wanted to keep his GCP project separate from his personal life. 

He leveled him with a look. “You know one reason.”  
  
“Still shouldn’t stop you,” he fired back. “I know dancing is a passion of yours.”

“Minhyuk please,” Binnie said. “Drop it. You’re drawing attention.”

Minhyuk deflated. “Sorry Guk.”

“You can make it up to me by turning around and letting me braid your damn hair,” Jeongguk said amicably. They all sighed when Minhyuk settled in front of him and let him give his chestnut hair mini braids all over it.

“Welp, now that happened,” Yugyeom said. “You guys wanna come shopping with us?”

Binnie’s eyes gleamed. “Shopping?”

Minhyuk groaned. “I’m so sore though.”

“Suck it up babe,” Binnie said. “We’re fucking going.”

“You’re lucky I love you.” 

Jeongguk gagged behind Minhyuk who slapped him lightly on the knee. 

Yugyeom laughed at their antics. “Well, how are we getting there?” 

Jeongguk shrugged as he looped the hair in front of him. “I can fit five people, including myself. There’s six of us.”

“Oh, I just bought a car remember?” Minhyuk said. “I can take a couple people.”

“Oh yeah. That’s so recent I keep forgetting.” 

“Me too, and I live with him,” Bammie said.

“Excuse me,” an upbeat voice said. They all turned to see the Hoseok behind Jeongguk, flanked by Jimin. Hoseok smiled sheepishly. “I couldn’t help, but overhear your earlier conversation.”

“What about it?” Jeongguk asked, a little more defensive than he liked.

Hoseok shrugged. “Well not gonna lie, I’ve heard you can dance. I’ve heard good stuff too.” He looked at Jeongguk with bright eyes. “So I was wondering to myself why you hadn’t tried out for the team yet.”

Jimin stepped forward. “We wanted to let you know if you ever wanted to try out you can get a hold of us. You’re more than welcome. You don’t have to wait for tryouts.”

Jeongguk heard Yugyeom whisper “Holy shit” under his breath. He sighed. “Um, thank you for the offer. But I’ll have to decline.”

“What the fuck Ggukie,” all his friends said.

“Dude the dance captains are fucking legendary,” Yugyeom said. “And they’re offering to let you join outside of try outs. What the fuck.” 

He glared at them. “I have reasons for why I’m not on the team.”

Jimin nodded. “We respect that don’t worry.”

Hoseok leveled Jeongguk’s friends with a stern look. “I just wanted to offer it to you. I’ve seen you around and heard good stuff,” he shrugged. “Thought I might as well offer.” He held out a hand. “Name’s Jung Hoseok.” 

Jeongguk shook it. “Jeon Jeongguk. I’ve heard about you from my friends.”

Jimin laughed. “Probably complaints about how hard he works them.” He held out his hand as well for Jeongguk to shake. “Park Jimin.”

Jeongguk grinned and shook it. “You aren’t wrong.”

Hoseok shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not like it isn’t true.” 

“Hobi-hyung!” another voice called. Jeongguk looked around Hoseok to see Taehyung running up. The blonde grinned. “Yoongi-hyung said we can crash at the studio till work.”

“How much begging did you do?” Hoseok asked. 

“I may have agreed to buying him coffee for it.”

“Tae, you’re broke,” Jimin said.

“So?”

Both men facepalmed at him. 

Jimin stared at him. “_Bruh_.” Taehyung just shrugged.

Jeongguk and his friends snickered. 

Taehyung looked for the noise. “Oh hey, you’re that kid who was with these nerds the other night,” he grinned.

“I object to being called a nerd!” Yugyeom said.

“Darling, you are one,” Bammie said.

“Not the point Bammie.”

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s me.”

Taehyung grinned. “Cool! I’m Taehyung. And I get the feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of you.”

Jeongguk looked at him puzzled. “I’m not joining the team.” 

Taehyung waved a hand. “Oh yeah no, I didn’t mean that.”

Hoseok rolled eyes. “Stop assuming things, Tae.”

“You know what I mean though.” 

“Cryptic much?” Jimin said. Taehyung shrugged again in reply.

Jeongguk glanced back at his friends who looked just as confused as he did. 

Yugyeom cleared his throat. “Guk, we should probably save Mark-hyung.”

Jeongguk looked over to where he last saw Mark to see the two males he was talking to before had left and Jackson took their place. “If I go over there I might punch him,” he said.

“Guk no,” Minhyuk said.

“Fight me, Minhyuk.”

“I’m pretty sure I’d die,” Minhyuk responded. “Wait on second thought, please kill me.”

“Bitch, we’ve talked about this,” Binnie said with a glare. Minhyuk just shrugged.

Hoseok looked over. “Punch Jackson?” 

Jeongguk nodded. “I don’t take well to hearing about my friends being around someone who regularly invalidates their fucking existence.”

“Glad we agree,” Jimin said. 

“I’ll go save him if you guys wanna yeet out,” Taehyung said. “Chim, you should help me out.”

“What why?” Jimin asked confused. 

Taehyung just grinned. “Co-captain duties. Just roll with it.”

“What?”

Taehyung proceeded to grab Jimin and dragged him over to where Mark and Jackson were. “Hey Jackson-hyung! Jimin needs to talk to Mark-hyung about something!”

Jackson blinked in confusion, but nodded slowly and bid goodbye. He grabbed his stuff and left and the atmosphere seemed a lot lighter as everyone sighed in relief.

Hoseok groaned. “Remind me why I haven’t kicked him out yet,” he asked when Jimin and Taehyung returned with Mark while other dance team members began to file out as well.

“Because the board is lgbtplusphobic and won’t take him being a dick as a reason,” Taehyung said. 

“Did you just make up a word?” Binnie asked. 

Taehyung shrugged. “Well, I didn’t wanna use homophobic, because it’s specific to gays. And it would disregard all of you with different identities.”

“Valid,” Jeongguk said. 

Taehyung looked at Jeongguk. “Anyway, so I’m adopting you.”

Jeongguk blinked. “I’m sorry what?”

“I’m adopting you because you’re a cute bunny boy and if I don’t then Jin-hyung will beat me to it.”

Jimin hummed. “True though.”

Hoseok laughed. “Jin-hyung adopts everyone and you are a prime candidate.”

“We’ve all adopted Jeongguk at some point,” Yugyeom said.

“He’s a baby,” Minhyuk teased.

Jeongguk glared while his friends snickered and Mark brought him into a headlock.

Jimin looked at his phone. “Yoongi-hyung is texting me that you’re ignoring him, Tae. Have you looked at your phone?”

Taehyung pulled out his phone. “Oops. There’s thirty-two messages of Yoongi-hyung demanding his coffee.”

Hoseok laughed. “In Yoongi-speak, he’s worried we got hit by a bus or something.”

Jimin looked at Hoseok. “You’re driving us there right?”

“Yeah, I have Yoongi-hyung’s car today. He hitched a ride with Jin-hyung earlier.”

“Neat. Let’s get this bread,” Taehyung said. “YEET YEET MOTHERFUCKER!” He then ran out the door.

“He forgot his bag,” Bammie pointed out helpfully. 

Jimin sighed and walked over to where a pile of bags remained and grabbed three. “Let’s go Hobi-hyung,” he said, slinging all three bags over his shoulders like it was nothing. Jeongguk was low-key impressed. Jimin was stronger than he looked. 

Hoseok shook his head, laughing slightly. “That kid will never calm down.” He then followed the pair out. He waved at Jeongguk and his friends. “Have a good day guys.”

Jeongguk sighed in relief. He looked at his friends. “So, shopping?”

* * *

Yoongi was staring blankly at his monitor, finally putting his phone away after getting a response from Taehyung. Namjoon was concerned. He knew how his friend could get. Today was a Bad Day. He cleared his throat and turned away from the title song of his new mixtape, well playlist as he called it. He took off his headset. “Hyung?”

“I know I said Hobi and the kids could come, but I’m regretting it now,” Yoongi said quietly. 

“Is it a Bad Day hyung?”

Yoongi shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Explains the lack of inspiration.”

“Do you need a break?”

Yoongi shook his head. “I don’t know.” He went quiet for a moment. “It’s almost that time of year again.” 

Namjoon’s face hardened. “Do you need time off?”

“Maybe. I can’t stop thinking about what happened.”

“Jin-hyung and I can give you time off. Hyung will probably take some too.” 

“He’s good like that,” Yoongi said then looked at Namjoon. “Joon-ah I don’t know how to heal. But I want to desperately.” 

“You don’t have to know, hyung,” Namjoon said quietly. “You’ll heal when you’re good and ready, it’s hard, but you will.”

Yoongi blinked slowly. “Same to you Joon-ah.” He then turned back to his monitor, falling silent and putting on his headset. Namjoon didn’t know what he was thinking now, but he could tell he was using music to cope. 

Namjoon turned back to his own monitor, with the song he was working on in collaboration with a semi-popular English music duo. He could hear the music from Yoongi’s headphones, GCP’s cover of _Duality_. He smiled softly before putting his own headset back on. Yoongi would be okay with GCP’s music playing.

The doorknob rattled and in walked Hoseok with Tae and Jimin trailing him, both holding coffee for everyone. Tae bounded over and handed Namjoon a cup. He smiled at the hyperactive male. “Thanks, Tae.”

Tae grinned brightly. “I got you a caramel macchiato. I know you like those a lot.” He then handed Yoongi two cups which Namjoon guessed to have either a mocha, an iced Americano, or a black-as-his-soul coffee. Nobody ever knew what coffee Yoongi felt like that day except Yoongi and he never fucking elaborated. Yoongi nodded his thanks and stared at his monitor. 

Jimin plopped down on the couch. “Yoongi-hyung, are you okay?” 

Yoongi shrugged. 

Hobi peeked over Yoongi’s shoulder. “Is that _ Happy Little Pill _? The GCP cover?”

Yoongi nodded.

Tae frowned. “Hyung, is it a Bad Day?”

Yoongi didn’t move for a minute, then he slowly nodded.

Jimin cocked his head. “Hyung, can I hug you?”

Yoongi nodded slowly again.

Jimin scrambled up and approached Yoongi cautiously, he reached out a little bit, then slowly engulfed Yoongi in a hug. The man slumped in Jimin’s arms. Tae was practically vibrating. “Hyung, can I?” he asked.

Yoongi hummed from Jimin’s arms. “Can we all just cuddle on the couch?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” Hoseok said. Namjoon saved his work and everyone piled on the couch with Yoongi in the middle of them all, looking a little better than he had been.

Eventually they’d all have to head to work but for now, they could keep Yoongi company.

* * *

Yoongi drove them all to work, despite them clocking on at different times. Hoseok and the Devil Duo clocked on a half an hour later but Namjoon and Yoongi clocked on at three-thirty. Upon arriving, the four o’clock trio scrambled out of the car and rushed indoors to sit in the lobby until they clocked on. Namjoon and Yoongi took their time. 

Namjoon rushed to the back to check the manager work that the salary managers did. Yoongi was indifferent to that work, he had no interest in being a salary, though he still had some knowledge of it since he was Namjoon’s backup manager. 

“Yoongi-ah,” Jin called from the line area. 

“Hyung,” Yoongi answered. 

“I need to talk to you,” Jin said, taking off his gloves. “Yuchan cover for me please!” The employee he called for immediately jumped on line to help Joohyun, who was terminating for Jin. 

Yoongi just continued walking towards the office, knowing Jin would follow him.

“Yoongi-ah,” Jin said as they entered the office where Namjoon sat looking at the computer and typing stuff. It looked like he was scheduling the next two weeks.

Yoongi set down his bag. “What’s up, hyung?”

“We’re giving you a few days off and I’m taking them off too. Joon, Donghun, and Junhee are splitting my shifts.” Jin said as Yoongi sat in the extra chair by Namjoon. “It’s that time of year.”

“I’m not gonna do something drastic hyung.” 

Namjoon looked at Yoongi. “Hyung, I literally watched you stare blankly at a computer screen for an hour. You also had a crisis in the studio. Let us worry.”

Jin’s face was blank and Yoongi was worried. The older man sighed. “Yoongi-ah, I don’t want to see you in that state again. I can’t.” He paused. “It was terrifying to find you like that. You know I have an especially hard time with it. I care a lot about you okay? I don't wanna lose you.” Jin’s face twisted in a way one could only describe as pained, yet it seemed there was more to it.

“And that’s why we want to make sure you’re okay,” Namjoon said upon seeing Jin unable to continue. 

Yoongi nodded carefully. “Alright.” Jin smiled slightly. They both knew Yoongi would prefer Jin with him. The two were close in a way the rest didn’t have with them. 

Jin patted Yoongi’s shoulder. “Clock on soon guys.” He then left the office to return to line. 

* * *

“I hate shopping, why did I agree to this?” Jeongguk asked after they all piled their spoils into his and Minhyuk’s cars.

“Cause you have a death wish,” Minhyuk deadpanned. “Me too though.” 

Jeongguk snorted at that.

Binnie glared at his boyfriend. “I happen to enjoy shopping.”

“Yeah I know, that’s why I suffer,” Minhyuk said. “But I do it out of love.”

“You guys are gross,” Yugyeom said.

“Babe, we are no better,” Bammie said.

“So?”

Mark groaned from his spot in the front of Jeongguk’s car. “Shut up and figure out where the fuck you’re all sitting.”

“I’m going in Minhyuk’s,” Binnie said.

“Literally not surprised,” Bammie said.

Binnie flipped him off.

Jeongguk sighed and got in his car, starting the engine. “Hoes, pick a fucking car or I’m leaving without you.”

Yugyeom raced into Jeongguk’s. “I’m in Gguk’s!”

Bammie opened the backseat door of Minhyuk’s and got in. “Going in Minhyuk’s.”

“I feel betrayed,” Yugyeom said.

“Good,” Mark said, earning a glare.

“Okay, but where to next?” Minhyuk asked.

Jeongguk shrugged and leaned out his open window. “Up to you guys. Wherever we go, we gotta stop by our dorm and drop off groceries.”

“I’m kinda hungry,” Binnie said as he got in Minhyuk’s car.

Yugyeom gasped. “Let’s go to McDonald’s!”

Jeongguk groaned.

“You mean McDick’s,” Mark said.

“Literally shut up Mark-hyung. Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Okay sure, but why McDonald’s?” Minhyuk asked.

Yugyeom grinned evilly. “Remember how Tae-hyungah said he’s adopting Ggukie?”

“Yeah I was wondering why he said that,” Binnie said. “But to be honest, everyone adopts Gguk.”

“Shut up,” Jeongguk grumbled.

He didn’t like where this was going.

“Anyway, Kookie here went to McDonald’s the other day, and developed a crush on an employee,” Yugyeom continued.

“I did _ not _!” Jeongguk interjected.

“Yeah you did,” Bammie said.

Jeongguk groaned.

“Wait, he developed a crush?” Minhyuk said. Binnie gasped.

Yugyeom’s grin grew. “Damn right he did. So being the good friends we are, we all went there the other day to see the mysterious employee and discovered that it was the same McDonald’s that a lot of the dance team members work at.”

“Seriously?” Binnie asked.

“It was actually kinda funny,” Mark said.

“But Tae-hyungah, as well as Hobi-hyung and Jiminie-hyung, took a liking to little Kookie here apparently and adopted him. So we should go see Jeongguk’s new family!” Yugyeom said. “Since he’s their baby now too.”

“They are not my new family!” Jeongguk protested.

“I’m interested,” Minhyuk said.

“Plus, I wanna see this employee!” Binnie exclaimed.

“He’s really pretty,” Bammie said. “Like I may be demi, but I have fucking eyes.”

“Mood,” Yugyeom said.

“Ohoho the employee is a male too?” Binnie said, grinning.

“Let’s fucking go,” Minhyuk said, hopping in his car and starting his engine.

Jeongguk groaned again.

He hated his friends.

* * *

After stopping by everyone’s respective homes to drop off their spoils, they finally made it to the local McDonald’s everyone apparently went too. As per usual the parking lot was empty while the drive-thru was full. Jeongguk was really honestly questioning people. Like bitch get out of your car. Though it was around dinnertime so Jeongguk really wasn’t sure why the inside was empty. He managed to park his car in the shitty parking lot with a long drive thru.

“Why the fuck is nobody in lobby?” Minhyuk asked when everyone had piled out of the cars.

“Every time I’ve been here this has been the case,” Jeongguk said.

“You’ve been here like twice,” Yugyeom deadpanned.

“Still.”

“People are lazy,” Mark said.

Yugyeom threw open the lobby door and screamed. “TROUBLE IS HERE!” 

“Yugyeom, why the fuck are you like this?” Jeongguk asked as they all filed in behind the cackling maniac.

There was groaning from the front counter. Jeongguk saw Taehyung standing there with a big grin with an apron on while Yoongi looked ready to scream. He was wearing a headset today, Jeongguk noted, there was a red light from the mic so Yoongi was probably taking an order. Taehyung sauntered (yes sauntered, there are no other words for what Taehyung just did and Jeongguk has no idea how to feel about it.) over to the order taker with a big grin. “What can I get for you guys?”  
  
Suddenly, Jin came out of nowhere and tweaked Taehyung’s ear. “Get back on line, that’s what you can do for them.” The broad man pinched the bridge of his nose while Taehyung cackled and ran to the back area. Jin smiled at the group. “We’ll be with you in just a minute,” he said then returned to the bagging station, narrowly dodging a blur named Yoongi; who rushed in the direction of the window with ice cream in hand. Namjoon was there also and the two worked quickly to bag various orders for the drive thru.  
  
A young man with almond eyes, a soft face and black hair came rushing around the corner of the bagging station, nearly running into Namjoon, who smiled sympathetically at him. “Sorry Jin-hyung!” 

Jin tsked but didn’t look angry. “I got a counter order, Youngjae. Stock later okay?”

The employee quickly ran up to the order taker and gave a brilliant smile. “What can I get you all?” 

Yugyeom dramatically clutched his chest. “Oh my god, I’ve been blessed.” 

Bammie looked like he was about to swoon.

Jeongguk sighed and looked at the other guys for help. 

They all just shrugged.

Nobody was any help with these two, to be honest, there was no saving them. 

Youngjae(?) looked confused. “I’m- I’m sorry?”

Jeongguk immediately covered the couple’s mouths. “Don’t worry about it, they’re dramatic,” he said. “Do you mind giving us a few minutes?”

The employee smiled. “Of course! Let me know if you need any help!”

The troublesome couple swooned, confusing the employee further.

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. “Okay bitches, what are we getting?”

Minhyuk shrugged. “I just want chicken nuggets and fries.”

Binnie giggled. “Me too. Just get us a twenty-piece and a large fry to split.”

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. “Okay. Mark-hyung what about you?”

Mark looked up from his phone. “BigMac meal.”

The couple were still swooning, the employee was getting increasingly confused, so Jeongguk just decided to get them what they got last time. He looked at the employee. “Okay. Did you get all of that?”

The employee nodded. “Yep! Is there anything else?”

“Yeah. A medium Supreme Shrimp Burger meal, a medium Double Quarter Pounder meal and a ten piece nugget meal, medium. To go please.” 

(Someone yelled “Thirty nuggets going out!” in the back area. Jeongguk assumed that it was the grill team.)

The employee rang it up. “Okay your total comes to 42,391 won.” 

Mark pushed Jeongguk aside. “I’m paying this time.” He inserted his card in the chip reader.

Jeongguk shrugged. “Okay then.”

The employee handed Mark the receipt. “We’ll have your order out soon!”

They all thanked him and sat down at a nearby table after getting their respective drinks. Minhyuk leaned over and placed his head on Jeongguk’s shoulder, making him groan. “What do you want?”

“Which one is it?” Minhyuk asked.

Yugyeom grinned. “The short one with the blonde hair and the headset. He’s making a shake right now.” 

Yoongi, in fact, was. The man looked annoyed as all hell and from what Jeongguk could see of the drive-thru order screen, which looked full, he really didn’t blame Yoongi for being annoyed.

Binnie cooed. “Awww, he’s got his smitten face on.” 

Jeongguk glared at him. “I do _ not _!”

“You really do,” Mark said. 

“Not helping, hyung.”

“Who said anything about helping?”

* * *

“The kid’s here again,” Namjoon said, shit-eating grin on his face.

Jin cackled. “Yoongi-yah, aren’t you happy?”

“Shut up hyung,” Yoongi hissed. “I didn’t ask for your shit.”

Tae leaned out from behind the ice cream machine. “He’s fucking cute though. We saw him today at dance practice.”

Jimin popped out from the meats area and leaned on the bagging station. “Yeah! He was there for his friends, I think.”

Hobi appeared behind Tae. “He also doesn’t like you-know-who.”

“What is this Harry Potter?” Youngjae asked as he approached. 

Hobi looked at him blankly. “Yes.”

Tae laughed loudly. “I officially can’t get the image of Jackson-ssi as Voldemort out of my head now.”

Hobi snickered. “Anyway, they were waiting for Mark and had to, in Tae’s words, ‘save him’ from Jackson.”

“Poor guy,” Namjoon muttered. He knew exactly how it felt to be bugged by Jackson all the time. 

“And the kid was like; ‘If I go over there I’m gonna punch him.’ So yeah. He doesn't like him.” 

“Because Jackson invalidates all of his friends’ existences,” Jimin said. 

“Ha, big mood,” Yoongi said. “I don’t like the guy.” 

“Who does?” Youngjae said.

“You share a dorm with him,” Jin said. 

“Doesn’t mean I like him. I tried, but I don’t because of how he acts. When the semester is over, I’m out of there.”

“Where will you go?” Namjoon asked.

Youngjae shrugged. “No clue. I’ll figure it out I guess. I just want out.”

“I think MJ and Jinwoo were considering a roomie,” Hobi said. “You can ask them.”

“Holy shit, nice.” 

“As well, Jin-hyung,” Tae said.

Jin looked at him. “What?”

“I adopted the kid first. He’s mine now.” 

“Bitch what, no!” Jin exclaimed as he handed the last bag on the screen to Yoongi who was doing both second lane and presenting. Yoongi proceeded to do his job, unlike _some _people in this store. “I wanted to! He’s fucking adorable!”

“Fight me, hoe.”

“Maybe I will.”

Namjoon shrugged. “I mean I’d adopt him too.”

“Does that mean you guys are adopting your first kid together?” Jimin asked.

“Jimin, I swear to god,” Jin said. The rest of the crew giggled while Namjoon and Jin looked embarrassed. Namjoon looked almost uncomfortable. 

“Yo, shut the fuck up,” Yoongi said. “Drop it.”

Tae blinked. “You’re usually the one joining us….”

Yoongi looked at him. “Tae. Not right now.”

Tae pouted but shut up.

Namjoon and Jin looked relieved.

“Excuse me?” one of the kids in lobby asked suddenly, after coming up to the counter. He was the one with silver hair, which suited him surprisingly. 

Youngjae went over to help him. “Yes?”

The boy grinned. “Well, I had a comment on your conversation.” 

Everyone stared at him.

He grinned. “I adopted Ggukie first and I’m his roommate so I automatically win. And second,” He looked Youngjae in the eye. “Can I get your number?”

“What the fuck Yugyeom; I thought you were dating BamBam,” Jimin said.

“I THINK HE’S CUTE TOO SO FUCK OFF JIMIN-HYUNG!” one of the other kids yelled from across the lobby. That one had striking blue hair.

“Gyeomie, I’m literally two months older than you,” the kid Yoongi did NOT have a crush on retorted as he came up behind the first one. He was about the same height as the first boy and no - Yoongi didn’t have a thing for tall boys shut up.

“Shush Gguk. Don’t worry about the details.”

“I’m a fucking anxiety riddled artist, that’s literally what I do.”

“_Details_.”

“Gyeomie, I _ will _ slaughter you.”

“Please do, I wanna die.”

“Yugyeom, we’ve fucking talked about this. If I can't die, neither can you.”

"Please Guk, I wanna die."

The blue haired kid came running up and jumped on the silver haired boy, presumably his boyfriend? “Babe, I love you, but shut the fuck up.”

The silver haired male pouted.

“I relate way too much to this conversation,” Tae said suddenly.

“Mood,” Hobi said. “Hey, Jeongguk-ssi.”

Yoongi’s not crush blinked in surprise. “Hello, Hoseok-ssi.”

Hobi grinned. “Funny seeing you here.”

Yoongi groaned. “Hobi, stop right the fuck there. I forbid this.”

"You can’t stop me, hyung,” Hobi said with a cackle.

Yoongi narrowed his eyes. “Watch me, _hoe_.”

Jeongguk and his friends looked very confused. 

Jin cleared his throat. “As entertaining as this is… I still wanna hear Youngjae’s answer.”

That drew the attention back to Youngjae who was blushing hella hard while the other kid looked very smug. “I um…. I gave him my number?”

Jeongguk sighed. “Today begins my death.”

The other kid hit him. “Hey! It was NOT that bad.”

Jeongguk looked at his friend with dead eyes. “Ten months, Yugyeom. Ten months of extreme pining.”

The blue haired kid piped up. “In my defense, I was pretty obvious in my flirting, Gyeommie is just an idiot.”

“Understatement of the year!” One of the other members of the friend group called.

The silver haired kid, Yugyeom, pouted. “Fuck off y’all.”

“Make us,” Jeongguk said. 

Yugyeom looked his friend dead in the eye and pulled out what looked to be a stress ball out of his shoulder bag? 

Jeongguk looked horrified while his group of friends mimed eating popcorn and giggled among themselves. 

Yoongi was very fucking confused. “What’s going on?” He heard Namjoon whisper.

“Bitch, why would I know?” Jin said.

“How do we tell them that their food is up - because this is way intense and I don’t wanna interrupt,” Hobi said.

“Shut the fuck up Hobi-hyung, I wanna watch this,” Tae said.

“What the hell is _that_, Yugyeom?” the blue haired kid said.

“You know what this is bitch,” he replied.

Yugyeom took a step towards Jeongguk who took a step back and held up his hand. “Back off Yugy. You swore you’d never get another one.”

Yugyeom cackled. “I lied.”

“Top ten anime betrayals,” Tae said. Yoongi had to admit that was a great comment as he glared at him.

Jeongguk scowled. “Yugyeom, I will get the water spray.”

“You don’t have that with you.”

“Try me bitch,” Jeongguk said as he crouched down to open his backpack. He unzipped it and pulled out...a mini spray bottle?

Yugyeom hissed. “You wouldn’t _ dare _.”

“I won’t hesitate _ bitch _!”

Yugyeom raised the stress ball and Jeongguk backed off again. “It’s over Gguk! I have the high ground!”

What the fuck? Is this suddenly Star Wars?

Jeongguk quickly approached Yugyeom and got him in a headlock and sprayed water at him as Yugyeom hissed and struggled. “You underestimate my fucking power, bitch.”

“Everyday we stray further from god,” Jimin said. 

Yoongi literally had no words.

One of the other guys from the friend group approached. “I’ll take our food. Sorry for disturbing the peace with our chaos.”

“Hey! _Rude_, Mark-hyung!” Yugyeom said as he pulled Jeongguk’s hair.

The male, Mark, rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay.”

Tae scrambled to the front. “Hey, wait before you go - I want Jeongguk-ssi’s phone number! I forgot to ask earlier.” 

Yugyeom and Jeongguk stopped fighting to stare at him. “Mine?” Jeongguk asked.

“Yeah, I mean I adopted you, gotta have your phone number.”

“Oh fuck; me too!” Jimin said.

Jeongguk stared in confusion.

Yugyeom pushed him. “Do it bitch, you won’t.”

“Fine,” Jeongguk said and accepted Tae and Jimin’s numbers. Jin immediately offered his as well to Jeongguk’s confusion. 

“I’m adopting you and you cannot stop me,” Jin said. “Neither can you Tae, so don’t even try.” 

“Trust me,” Namjoon said. “You want him to adopt you. He makes the best food.”

“Hell yeah I do.” 

Yoongi had to agree there. But he also knew that Jin feeds everyone because he feels he needs to make sure everyone is okay and healthy and happy because of his past; and he also knew that he and Namjoon got the brunt of that treatment because they both sucked at taking care of themselves.

“Do I get fed too though, is the real question,” Yugyeom asked. 

Jin shrugged. “Sure why not?”

“Fuck yes, I approve of this.” 

Jeongguk rolled his eyes and accepted Jin’s number scribbled on a napkin. 

Yoongi was pretty sure that chaos incarnate had been unleashed by Jin and the Dangerous Duo befriending Jeongguk and likely meshing the two friend groups together. 

And he was high key terrified by that.

* * *

Jeongguk and his friends finally left after numbers were exchanged and Jeongguk felt like he got like six people’s numbers. (Really it was only four, but it felt like more. No, he didn’t get Yoongi’s - and no, he isn’t pouting about it despite what Yugyeom says).

“Well that was an adventure,” Minhyuk said in the parking lot. “I feel very enlightened.”

“Right? We got to see Jeongguk’s crush-” Binnie agreed.

“Shut the fuck up,” Jeongguk said.

“-and we got to see a lovely confrontation that related to YugyKook’s meeting and-”

“Binnie, I will kill you.” 

“Do it - you won’t.”

“Alternatively, we could not murder people,” Mark interrupted. 

“You ask too much of me, hyung,” Jeongguk said. "I hold all of your lives in my hands right now."

“Just shut up and drive.”

“Are we Rihanna now?” Bammie asked.

“God fucking damnit.”

Jeongguk hated his friends sometimes but he also loved them to death and wouldn’t trade them for the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took like 10 years but real life obligations and my own mental health and the general difficulty of this story got in the way.
> 
> I do deeply adore this story but as I stated it's gonna be hard to write since it's so personal to me. Plus writer's block is a bitch.
> 
> Anyway I do hope you enjoyed and yeah I'm not sorry about all the memes cause I am a meme and I wrote half of this at like 3 am where everything is ten times funnier to me.


	5. Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, the past comes back to haunt us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Mention of past toxic relationships, implications of self-harm and self-destructive thoughts, mentions of implied suicide attempt, mentions of mental health and other trauma.
> 
> Please be safe kiddos, it's not overt but there is definitely talk of this and it's there.

“Sir, I need you to calm down.” Jin said calmly as an angry customer screamed at him. “We can easily correct this for you.” 

“Tell your fucking employees to do their goddamn jobs and we won’t have this issue!” the customer said.

Yoongi had a headache.

The customer’s food wasn’t even a huge mistake, he got pickles on a sandwich he ordered no pickle, easily corrected. Hell, the guy could just pick them off himself if it wasn’t allergy related (though if it was, can people just fucking order that?). The order was rung up wrong which happens sometimes. But Yoongi was about ten seconds away from screaming at the man. The front counter kid, a midshift employee who had just started, her first day even, looked ready to cry. Yoongi had talked to her earlier and she was only eighteen and it was her first job. 

What a great first day. 

The customer was only getting angrier and Yoongi could tell Jin was close to throwing him out. Seriously, people get pissy over the stupidest things. He was also like ninety percent sure the guy was throwing even more of a fit to get free stuff, people do that and it’s annoying and shitty. 

“Sir, if you can’t calm down I’m going to have to ask you to leave the premises.” 

“What the fuck do you mean?”

Jin’s face hardened. “I mean sir, that if you cannot control your temper and cease disturbing my customers and verbally attacking my crew; I will have to ask you to leave and not come back. And I have no issue getting the police involved if you refuse to cooperate.” 

The guy’s face was red and he looked like he was about to scream some more when Jin stood up at his full height and the guy promptly shut up. Jin didn’t often stand up completely straight, he was a tall, broad man and he recognized that. He knew he could be intimidating and used that to his advantage, especially when you add the fact that his work outfit showed he had muscles as well. 

Jin was basically the goddamn bouncer for his own store if he needed to be.

“Sir, are we going to be calm now?” Jin asked. The customer nodded. Jin smiled pleasantly, the kind that you can tell is dangerous. “Good! Now I can have the sandwich remade for you or I can refund you. Your choice, sir.” 

“R-refund, thank you.” 

Jin nodded and gently shooed the new girl to go take a ten minute break. “Over here sir. Would you like it in cash or back on your card?”

Yoongi decided he was going to go comfort the poor girl but was beaten to it by Namjoon, who had just shown up for their shift a few minutes late since they were picking up product from another store.

Jin thankfully dealt with the customer and sent him on his way. 

Yoongi was too tired for today already and he’d only been here an hour. The door opened and loud chatter was heard, and in came the new regulars; Yoongi’s not crush, Jeongguk and his group of friends. Yoongi sighed inside. Today he had his two roommates, Yugyeom and Mark with him, as well as the trio of roommates Minhyuk, Sanha and BamBam (Yoongi didn’t get why that was the name he chose but whatever). Yoongi had learned all their names because they all kept coming in as time passed. The group rotated out who was there though. Jeongguk and Yugyeom were the two consistent ones. Plus, Tae, Jimin, Hobi, and even Jin chattered about the friend group. Jin, because he had started delivering food to Jeongguk and his roommates (especially after finding out Jeongguk was a slight health nut and loved cooking) and the pining trio because of the dance team.

Yugyeom bounded up to the counter where Jin had sent the angry customer on his way. “Hello, Jin-hyung!”

Jin smiled warmly. “Hey, Yugyeom. How are you all today?”

“Hungry,” Mark said.

“Did you guys already eat the food I brought over?”

Jeongguk laughed. “No, not yet. We’re just out and about today. Sanha needed some new guitar strings and I needed new art supplies. The others were just bored.”

“And heavily procrastinating,” BamBam added shamelessly. 

“Math sucks okay,” Minhyuk said. 

Jin rolled his eyes. “Okay well, I’ll let Yoongi-yah ring you guys up. I gotta go check on an employee.”

Yoongi sighed and took Jin’s spot. “You guys missed the party. Customer threw a fit.”

“What happened?” Jeongguk asked, brow furrowed and eyes worried. He cared deeply, Yoongi had noticed. No, he didn’t find it endearing, stop talking to Namjoon.

“Guy asked for no pickle on his sandwich, got pickle, and promptly lost his shit at the new girl who took his order.”

“Ew that’s gross,” Sanha said.

“Ninety percent sure the guy was throwing a bigger fit to get free food.”

“Ew that’s cringe,” Yugyeom said. 

Yoongi nodded. “Agreed. Jin, being the literal bouncer for our store, sent the customer on his way and he went to go check on the new girl. Namjoon was back there too, but she looked really shaken.”

“I mean I would be too if I got screamed at on my first day,” Sanha said.

“It sucks,” Yoongi said. “What can I get for you guys?”

The group of friends ordered their usuals then rushed to their normal spot, much to the amusement of Yoongi. Other customers stared at the colorful group, mostly older people, because sure, why not. 

Yoongi wasn’t admitting he liked them okay. He just didn’t like older people judging.

Stop talking to Namjoon.

Sighing, he went back to the counter to save Hoseok from a playful Taehyung.

At least in a couple days, his time-off starts.

* * *

“Oh, you can give and take, crack my bones but my heart won’t break now-” Jeongguk sang as he stirred the noodle dish Jin had left, bobbing to the music in his earbuds. “And don’t commit no crime, find me innocent, but still I serve my time!”

“Your voice continues to be amazing Ggukie,” Yugyeom said, entering their small kitchen. 

Jeongguk looked at him and pulled an earbud out. “Thanks.”

Yugyeom leaned over Jeongguk’s shoulder, resting his head in the crook where Jeongguk’s neck met his shoulder. “What are you making?”

“Leftovers from Jin-hyung. Want some?”

“Oh god please,” Yugyeom groaned. “I’ve been staring at my lit essay for the last three hours. Why do we have lit classes?”

Jeongguk laughed as he moved to grab a couple bowls, Yugyeom shuffling with him. “Because the school system thinks we need core classes for degrees that won’t ever use them.”

“Fuck the school system, I’m rioting.”

“Mood,” Jeongguk said as he dished out the noodles, handing a bowl to Yugyeom.

“Also I was listening to like - all your covers while writing.”

“I’m flattered?”

“Shut up you’re great,” Yugyeom slurped up a noodle. “Your crush seems to think so.”

“Oh, shut your fuck.”

“Make me, bitch.”

“I have the spray bottle.”

“Fuck you.”

“No.”

“But real talk Ggukie,” Yugyeom said sitting on the coffee table. “For all my teasing I am glad you have a crush again.”

“Don’t expect it often,” Jeongguk said as he sat on the floor. “Crushes are weird.”

Yugyeom scoffed. “Well duh, emotions are weird. Bitch, you’re talking to the king of what-the-fuck-is-attraction.”

“I mean,” Jeongguk said. “I knew that but like…” He paused. 

Yugyeom waved his chopsticks. “But like…?”

“It’s kinda like your gray-asexuality or BamBam’s demisexuality…?” Jeongguk said. “But romantic I guess.”  
  
“Sooo like aro-spec?”

“I think so? I’m not sure. I think I can list like three crushes I’ve ever had.”

Yugyeom waggled his eyebrows. “And one is the employee right?”  
  
“Up your shut fuck.” Jeongguk flipped him off. “But yeah, I think I might be somewhere vaguely on that spectrum. Or maybe I’m just shy. I don’t fucking know.”  
  
“Hey, it’s how you feel man, and it’s all valid.”

Jeongguk ate another bite of noodles. “Yeah, thanks Gyeomie.”

“Anytime, Ggukie,” Yugyeom grinned. “Hey… wanna go to McDonald’s?”

“We are literally eating right now.”

“I meant to see your boyfriend and get ice cream. I want a McFlurry.”  
  
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Jeongguk protested. “And we are broke.”  
  
“Bammie owes me twenty-five hundred won.”  
  
“....why?”

“I bet he couldn’t stuff his mouth with a bunch of cigarettes like Sherlock Holmes in BBC.”

“Why the fuck.”’

Yugyeom shrugged. “I don’t know, we were watching it and he bet he could.”

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. “Okay, let me finish my noodles, finish my doodle, and then we can go.”

“Fuck yes!” 

* * *

“Yoongi-yah,” Jin said as he poked his head into the bedroom. “Have you eaten?”

Yoongi pulled off his headset, letting it hang around his neck, and looked up at him from his spot on the bed. “No.”

“Do you want to?”  
  
Yoongi frowned and looked back down at his laptop. “I should.”  
  
“Not hungry?"

Yoongi shook his head. “I feel numb.” Jin entered the room fully, closing the door behind him. He moved carefully over the music sheets and books scattered on the floor. He gingerly sat down on the bed, moving Yoongi’s laptop and taking the headset off of his neck. He put them to the side as he pulled Yoongi into his arms. “Hyung,” Yoongi said. “I feel numb but it hurts.”

“I know,” Jin said quietly. 

“What she did…” Yoongi said. “Sometimes, I still look at myself and hear her voice. Hear what she said. Think about… how she treated me. How she didn’t care. How she controlled me. Then I get bad thoughts.”

“Yoongi-yah…” 

Yoongi gripped his wrists, nails digging into his scarred skin, trying to stop the noise in his head. Pain always made it quiet. “I’m sorry, hyung.”

Jin pried Yoongi’s wrist from his grip and gently stroked it. “_ Never _ apologize. You were hurting. I was scared when I found you, of course I was, but never apologize for it. There was so much going on, so much hurting you. I’m always here for you. And I always will be.”

Yoongi nodded into Jin’s chest, tears finally coming to his eyes.

* * *

Yugyeom threw open the door to McDonald’s. “What’s up bitches!”

“You are so lucky it’s empty,” Jeongguk said.

“Hi!” Taehyung said from the front counter, waving.

“How are you?” Jeongguk said.

Taehyung shrugged. “I’m doing okay, you didn’t respond to me my meme.”

“Listen…” Jeongguk said. “I suck.”

Bammie hit his arm. “Shut the fuck up.”

“No.” 

“Wait,” Yugyeom said, peering into the kitchen area. “Aren’t Jin-hyung and Yoongi-hyung usually here? It’s not their day off…”

“The hyungs always take days off around this time of year,” Hoseok said as he walked up to the counter. 

“Personal reasons,” Namjoon said, firmly. “Yoongi-hyung has had a difficult past. This time of year reminds him of it. Jin-hyung usually takes time off too, to keep him company.”

“Hyung,” Taehyung said. “I’ve been wondering about that.”

“Not answering, Tae,” Namjoon said as he put together another bag and turned away.

Jimin walked over with a headset on his head. “Hobi? Do you know?”

Hoseok just gave a blank look and turned away.

“Do you guys not know?” Mark asked quietly. 

Jimin frowned. “Not really, we have some inkling, but we weren’t in the friend group at the time.”

“We had just started our freshman year,” Taehyung said. “We were mostly just coworkers at that point, didn’t really interact with them outside work.”

“Well,” Jimin said. “I did at the dance team, but that was mostly only people who were actually on the dance team.”

“Something happened that year,” Taehyung said. “That’s all we really know.”

“In June of that year, Yoongi-hyung and Jin-hyung didn’t come to work for two weeks,” Jimin said. “Joonie-hyung and Hobi-hyung were gone almost as much.”

Jeongguk frowned. “Was he dating anyone?”

“Yeah,” Jimin said. “For a while, then he broke it off that November, how did you know?”

“Just a guess,” Jeongguk said. “Namjoon-hyung?”

Namjoon turned to him. “I’m not telling you. It’s not my story.”

“No,” Jeongguk said. “Of course not, I understand. Will you tell Yoongi-hyung that he can always talk to me? I get it.”

Namjoon’s eyebrow rose. “Something happened to you, recently. Not too recently, but enough you still think about it a lot and it affects you.”

“How did you know?” Yugyeom said, voice sharp.

“I minor in psychology,” Namjoon said. “A job I’m attempting is counseling. Outside of this job I’ve been doing my internship. I recognize the look.”

Jeongguk blinked. “Something did happen, yes…”

“I won’t ask,” Namjoon said. “There’s no pressure. I understand as well, hyung often talks to me, but he might appreciate another perspective. I’ll pass it on to him.”

“Thank you, hyung.”

“I know as well,” Namjoon continued. “Because I see that look in my own eyes every day.”

The store went quiet as Namjoon turned around again.

* * *

“Ggukie?” Yugyeom said as they entered the apartment. “Are you doing okay?”

“Not really,” Jeongguk said. “Gonna put on some music, I think.”

“Jeongguk,” Mark said. “You aren’t thinking anything stupid are you?”

“I mean…” Jeongguk said. “I am, but I’m trying not too.”

“I hate the guy,” Bammie said. “I hate what he did to you.”

“I hate myself for falling for it,” Jeongguk said.

“Ggukie…” Yugyeom said. 

“I hate that I was just a game to him. I hate that he used me. I hate that he was so two-faced. I hate how he treated the other girl. I hate how I spent nights hating myself and dealing with internalized bullshit because of my family over him. I hate it. Because he wasn’t worth it. But most of all,” Jeongguk stopped to take a breath. “I hate that I still care about him, after all that, because he doesn’t deserve it.” Jeongguk shuddered. “Can we change the subject?”

“Of course,” Bammie said. He turned to Mark. “I have a question.”

“I potentially have an answer,” Mark answered.

“What's up the two guys you have a crush on?”

“Oh!” Yugyeom said. “I’ve been wondering about that too! Jinyoung and Jaebeom right?”

“Yeah,” Mark said. “They’re dating.”

“Have you talked anything out with them?” Jeongguk asked.

“I want to, but I’m not sure that they return the feelings.” 

“That’s fair,” Yugyeom said. “I think you should go for it, not just sit there. It's been like this a while right?”

“Yeah,” Mark said, looking away. “I’ve been thinking about talking to them.”

“Can we help in any way?” Jeongguk asked.

“Maybe, I’ll let you know. But now it’s my turn for a question.”

“What is it?” Bammie asked.

“Are you two going after that kid from McDick’s?”

Yugyeom let out a dreamy sigh. “He’s adorable?”  
  
“We’ve been messaging him, he’s really sweet.” Bammie said.

“I want to squish his cheeks,” Yugyeom said seriously.

“Oh my god, same.”

Jeongguk laughed.

* * *

  
  


“Hyung, can you listen to this for me?” Yoongi said as he entered the living room.

Jin looked up from his DS. “Yeah, new song?”  
  
“Demo for a mixtape song.”  
  
Jin took the offered headset and put it on. Once he was settled, Yoongi pressed the spacebar to play the demo. Jin sat quietly as the heavy beat played with Yoongi’s quiet breathing. Then Yoongi’s quiet, but emotional rapping came through.

_ Damn huh feeling estranged in reality _

_ The conflict with ideal, my head hurts _

Jin instantly knew what the song was about. He felt like crying as Yoongi stared at him wide eyed. The music slowed down a bit approaching a rise.

_ The doctor asks me if I've _

There was a loud beep that Jin recognized as a censor noise.

_ I answered without any hesitation that I have _

That’s when Jin started crying, knowing the implications, since he was the one who found Yoongi. The music continued and Jin heard Yoongi’s rise in the song as he coped with everything. Jin knew this was his vent song, this was him expressing the pain he deals with. The pain he handles every day.

The music stopped and Jin took off the headset.

“Hyung?” Yoongi asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yoongi-yah,” Jin said. “That was beautiful.”

“Hyung, you’re crying.”

Jin nodded. “I am.” He wiped his eyes. “I know what you were talking about, and I;m proud of you for writing this. You’re so brave.”

“Hyung…”

“I may not understand everything you talk about in this song, I don;t understand all the issues with fame and your struggles with your identity in relation to it. But I do understand you’re getting it out. You’re freeing yourself, and I’m proud of you.”

“Hyung… thank you,” Yoongi said. “I know your struggles are different. ANd I’m sorry you ever had to see me like that, I know you’re afraid of people leaving you because of your family.”

“They aren’t really my family Yoongi-yah, not anymore.”

“Hyung…”

“I don’t want to talk about it Yoongi, it’s not about me right now.”

“When will it be?” Yoongi asked. 

Jin was quiet for a few minutes. “I don’t know.” he said finally.

* * *

“Hyungs!” Taehyung exclaimed when Jin and Yoongi walked into the store. “You’re back!”  
  
“We are!” Jin said cheerily. “I see the store didn't burn down in our absence.”

“You have so little faith in me,” Namjoon said. “That hurts me deeply.”

“Joonie, it’s more that I don’t trust Jiminie and Tae to not burn the store down.”

“Hey!” Jimin protested. 

Yoongi snorted. “You guys nearly destroyed my studio, I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“Rude.” Jimin huffed. “Anyway, how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay as I can be right now,” Yoongi said. “As well, Joon, I have a demo for you to look over later.”  
  
Namjoon grinned. “Hit a break through?”

“Hell yeah.”

Yoongi would be okay. He had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. This story is really hard for me to write sometimes, since it's so personal. However, a comment on the last chapter was the boost I needed to finish this one. It's shorter than I usually write, but this story kinda is. But that's okay, it tells what it needs to tell. 
> 
> With everything going on in the world right now, it's hard to write in general, much less a story I am deeply projecting on. As the story goes I'll mention characters who have parts of my backstory, and well. For this one, Yoongi and Jeongguk have part of me I went through. 
> 
> In case it's not overly clear, both Jeongguk and Yoongi went though traumatizing relationships that deeply affect them to this day in the story. I'm purposefully not going into detail because it will be talked about more in later chapters. Please be aware that this will get heavier, but I will try to keep it lighthearted as well. 
> 
> I'm dropping hints, but Namjoon and Jin have issues too. Well, honestly all of the BTS members do. The side characters from GOT7 and Astro do have things they go through too, but they are not the focus so their stories will be resolved in the background and in passing.
> 
> But notice the hints for Namjoon, those are especially important because Namjoon's will be revealed in the next few chapters (before Jin, sorry, he's tight lipped about it). Yoonkook at this point are far more obvious but Namjoon's I know is subtle right now.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's been commenting and enjoying the story, even though it's short I hope this chapter is what you were waiting for. Thank you so much for reading my story. It means a lot to me.
> 
> Song in chapter is The Last by Yoongi (actually i think there's a demo floating around? let me know if y'all find it)
> 
> Chapter title (and the song Jeongguk is singing) is from Bones by Nathan Sharp -Natewantstobattle
> 
> ALSO HEY ITS THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THIS FIC TOMORROW OH SHIT


End file.
